It never rains but it pours
by ideomania
Summary: Set after the S4 Finale. Rose and the Doctor are traveling together again, though this time they're not seeing everything through 'rose-coloured glasses'. note: I might have completely ignored 10.5 in this story it wasn't intentional he just didn't fit
1. Chapter 1

My latest Who fic...that currently has 11 chapters (If only I knew where it was going, because that would make it easier), I keep reading and rereading it to see if it makes sense so this is all I'm happy with at the moment (I meant to post this a couple of days ago). The next chapter's longer, promise. I think 1500 words is about the right chapter length so that's what i'm trying to stick to. I don't own Doctor Who, I also don't own a cape...should I include a list of _all_ the things I don't have?

**Set:** Straight after Season 4. Rose and the Doctor takes Donna home, then we get a little angsty (because i haven't really done that before) and then I get to play with Jack and the new team [warning: I watched the first episode of Torchwood and was bitterly disappointed enough _never_ to try again, so my characters and floor plan of T3 are gonna be a little off.] Wow, I've written almost as much here as there is chapter....that's not very fair. But who said I was fair? :)

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The rain streaked through her blonde hair, making it look darker as Rose stood on the stoop outside of the Noble's home. She didn't notice as the strands plastered themselves to her face as the wind blew them back at her, her thoughts were with the people inside. The Doctor hadn't asked her to wait outside; she'd just known that he needed some time to explain some things to Donna's family. The front door opened behind her and the Doctor stepped out while Wilfred waited in the doorway, "My dear, I do wished you'd stayed inside." He chastised Rose gently as he took in her appearance. The Doctor frowned disapprovingly down at her and shrugged out of his trench, draping it around her shoulders.

"Hey, a little rain after the day we've all had…" she shook her head, "it's nothing." Wilfred tutted at Rose as the Doctor absentmindedly pulled the trench tight around her and started doing up the buttons; she almost stopped him (she was drowning in coat) but one look at his face and she knew he needed to keep busy. "I'm sorry we couldn't do more." She apologised to Wilfred over the Doctor's shoulder, "I know it's going to be hard for you-"

"No, no, no" He said cutting her off, "You, young lady helped saved the world." He looked down regretfully "Hell, you saved a silly old man from taking on one of those alien pepper pots, you saved me daughter as well and my granddaughter. I hope…I do hope that good things come to you both."

Rose beamed at him and impulsively stepped around the Doctor and his fussing to give Donna's grandfather a big hug, Wilfred patted Rose's back and she stepped back next to the Doctor. She looked up at her best friend and rubbed his arm, he looked so lost; with her other hand she brushed a hand through his thick dark hair upsetting some raindrops that had settled there. "Thank you, we've been through a lot. We're about due for something good." Rose answered taking the Doctor's hand. She turned to the him concerned, "You haven't said a word, are you going to be okay?" she gave a short laugh, "You haven't been this quiet since Jack and I ganged up on you and pushed you in that lake in Centurina." She sniffed "It had piranha in it." She explained looking at Wilfred as she grinned sadly at the happy memory.

"Well, we should be off." The Doctor sighed suddenly and tugged Rose off the stoop.

"Ah…bye." Rose called back over her shoulder. "That was rude." She muttered to the Doctor with a frown.

"I hope we see you two again…under better circumstances of course." Wilfred shouted after the couple as they ran through the rain.

They reached the Tardis and the Doctor pulled out his key, and stared at it unseeingly. The rain traced down their faces in a steady stream, Rose pushed her wet hair back from her face and watched him worriedly before covering the cool hand holding the key with her own warm one. He looked at her and their gazes locked – her sad eyes and his blank ones. He unlocked the door and pulled her in behind him.

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Any comments, none? _alrighty then_...you just save that opinion up and keep it to yourself if you want to. But I had better hear something back by the time I get a couple of chapters in.... Oh, yeah and thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

This fic is turning into a string of firsts, this is the first time I've sort of done a song fic (or more accurately song chapter)..._believe me_ I dislike reading them, they disjoint the flow of the words and pretty much it's distracting but this song was perfect and it was what inspired me and what i was listening to on repeat on my ipod so it deserved a mention.

**The song is** _'Let the love back in'_, by **The Orange Lights** (which was featured at the end of one of the 90210 prom episodes in this really beautiful scene... and _I know_ that show's nowhere near as good as DW, I know, _I Know_ okay, but I just caught the end and it left an impression). I was also watching a drama on TV while writing this, 50 points if you can guess which one from reading the dialogue I gave Rose when she explains how she's feeling.

Setting: I really thought Rose deserved that dance. Finally.

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Rose concentrated on her breathing, in and out. It was easy, or at least it could only get easier. She'd escaped to her room; the Doctor wasn't great company right now. Normally, she'd be doing all she could to get him out of his funk…but this time was different. She couldn't. They're just weren't any words. If they'd won why did she feel like they'd lost? She wasn't going to cry, she was so past all of it. She wasn't some lost little girl; she was all grown up now. She was home; time to start acting like it.

He pulled out some wires from under the console, removed a section of grating and began some unnecessary work calibrating the back thrusters. Rose was hiding somewhere; he'd been a little gruff with her. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes, it wasn't her fault…_wasn't her fault at all!_ He threw a pair of pliers at the wall, they connected with a bang and bounced skittering across the grating to land in front of Rose's rainbow covered toes. She raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I see you've finally decided to be mature." She said sarcastically.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and continued working. Rose picked up the pliers; walked over to the hole the Doctor was working in and dropped them on his head. He shouted and rubbed his head vigorously, making his hair stand up at odd angles – it was still a little damp and the water held it together. "_Rose_." He said in a dangerously soft voice "Why did you do that?" He braced himself on the edges of the grating and lifted his long body up and out.

"Thought it might knock some feeling into you, since you've been actin' like a zombie." She stood toe to toe with him, arms crossed, glaring up at him. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you, and YES, we've got scars. _You more then anyone I've ever met_. Big, nasty emotionally draining scars, but it's supposed to be okay because we have each other. It's supposed to be okay." She shook her head "You're all I have, so you don't get to sulk and repress and wall yourself off from me." The Doctor reached out for her and she took a couple of steps back "And that's why I dropped the pliers on you, although realistically anything heavy would have done." She blinked back some tears "I've seen things, done things that I…I can't explain to anyone else. You have no idea what I've been doing the last few years- it hasn't exactly been a picnic for me either." She finished tensely before walking away.

The Doctor swallowed hard and chased after her, catching up with Rose in the hallway and stopping her by wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and pulling her firmly against his chest. "_Rose_, Did you…?"

"Mean that?" she asked, "Yeah, yeah I did. I'm sick of this behaviour from you, grow up – we all have problems. _Universe doesn't revolve around you_." They stood there silently for a moment. She looked down at her brightly covered socks, "You know I knew I'd left them somewhere. Mum said it was just like me to lose my socks a universe away." She murmured quietly and the Doctor laughed softly.

"Did you come all the way back for _them_?"

She sniffed, "Might as well have."

Rose turned in his arms, "I think _you_ still owe me a dance." She said placing one hand on his arm and pulling the other one from around her so she could link their fingers. The Doctor peered down at her curiously, neither of them moving.

"Well?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. This as far as we've ever got, I've got no clue what comes next." She scoffed, "Usually we're teleported out about now, before we really get anywhere."

"Well nobody can teleport in or out of the Tardis." The Doctor assured her confidently. Rose raised an eyebrow looking amused and the Doctor rolled his eyes "Oh come on that was one time." He looked at the ceiling "Fine, twice."

"Third times the charm." Rose smiled wirily.

"They were very unique and highly unlikely situations."

"The most likely kind around you." Rose pointed out as the Tardis began piping a song by _The Orange Lights_ through some well-hidden speakers, the sound filled up the space around them as they started unconsciously swaying to the music. The Doctor tightened his grip on Rose's waist and hand as he started leading her around the hallway.

"If you'll look down, you'll find your feet attached to your legs." He told her seriously "You might feel like moving them."

She grinned, "Knew I'd left them somewhere." They waltzed down the hallway into the library, Rose humming along with the song. The Doctor spun her around a couple of times pirouetting her around the room - where once upon a time they'd spent many hours debating everything from why the sky was blue to exactly why it was _important_ that he didn't use her shampoo. The far end of the room was made of an entire wall of stained glass and light filtered through from somewhere, lighting them all sorts of incredible colours.

_Sometimes it just don't make no sense at all  
I'm still trying to find a reason for it all  
My life i thought it would be something beautiful  
And now it feels like there is nothing there at all anymore  
Give me the sunshine instead of the rain  
All that i want is to be happy again  
Give me the sunshine instead of the pain  
Give me the sunshine_

_We've got to let the love back in again  
Let the love back in again..._

Rose's laugh bubbled out of her as he dipped her backwards, he beamed down at her, "Trust me?"

"Always." She replied easily - not having to think about it. The Doctor dropped her lower and she gasped, she stared up into his intense gaze and smirked, "Sorry, were you trying to scare me away again?" Her tongue poked cheekily out of the side of her mouth, "Try _harder_."

He pulled her easily back up, holding her close. The amusement faded in his eyes, "I'm sorry about before…I didn't mean to…" Rose's chocolate eyes studied his face and she nodded, she understood. It was hard to say goodbye, and it wasn't even close to the first time he'd had to leave someone behind. He hadn't told her much about the ones who came before her because it hurt him, but she knew some of the stories from his past. She leaned closer, resting her head against his chest over one of his hearts as she moved her arm around to his back, curving it around so her hand rested on his shoulder.

"We're lucky, you know. Some people don't get to have this."

The Doctor looked down at their clasped hands, and then rested his cheek on top of her head; he smiled into her hair "You always have to turn everything around, don't you? _Can't give me a minute to sulk_." They swayed silently for a moment, "_Very_ lucky." He whispered so softly that Rose wandered if he'd really said it.

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So is _that_ enough to review? Yes, No...Maybe? Please, I can't be unbiased so feedback is necessary. Oh and listen to the song, it's beautiful - youtube it people!


	3. Chapter 3

Alrighty then, Thank you my wonderful reviewers and the people who put alerts on this fic - its all very encouraging.

** I don't own Doctor Who or a pogo stick...just so we have that clear. **

Also Torchwood Three in my mind is like a vast metal space with a really high ceiling and a pterodactyl flapping around at the top (for some reason, hence where i got the dino idea from), Jack's office is up a flight of metal stairs and is actually quite a homey and traditional space (Warm woods, comfy chairs, nice lighting etc.). There's a downstairs basement area that is split between holding cells for critters and the lab (for Martha) and the morgue. On the roof (the part that doesn't open) is a landing pad, which is reachable by a lift and a stairwell...well that's what i have SO far, that description is just incase it didn't make sense to you because _you're_ actually quite knowledgeable about Torchwood (unlike me).

Oh and this is **my first action scene**...exciting isn't it? It was _Really_ fun having everyone busy, but crazy hard for me to figure out and remember Gwen, Ianto and Martha should have something to do...Hey, I can't help it if I have favorites :)

**Setting:** T3, a few weeks (?) after the previous chapter. I like starting with people in the middle of a conversation.

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"I didn't say _that_. What _I_ said was that you were losing your mind." She argued stubbornly.

"Oh, and that's much better is it?" The Doctor asked sarcastically, looking exasperatedly at her.

They were sitting in Jack's office in Torchwood 3, Cardiff. The Doctor had decidedly taken a seat on Jack's desk, on top of probably important papers, while Rose chose to sit in the chair facing him, with her back to the door. They'd come back for a visit, at Rose's insistence when they'd needed to fuel up. Walking in the Doctor had labelled them a bunch of headless chickens, as the crew ran from one monitor to another following the progress of a large flock of pterodactyls flying overhead. Jack had given Rose a look and she'd dragged the Doctor away before he could say anything else. Now, _she wasn't sure how_ but they had somehow ended up debating his sanity. He really was in a grumpy mood today.

"Rosie." Jack said coming in behind her, he squeezed her shoulders, "You're fighting a losing battle, he's never going to admit to it. _Too proud_." He walked around to sit behind his desk, put his feet up and turned to them "So what brings my favourite crime fighting duo to town? I take it the migration had nothing to do with you guys?"

"Oh, the dinosaurs?" Rose asked surprised, "No, not our style." She brushed a hand through her hair, "Nope, it's a social call."

The Doctor sighed heavily and spun around to face Jack, "She dragged me here." He whined. "I had a perfectly good day planned." He leaned forward, "I may have finally tracked down a part the Tardis could really use and then there's this signal coming from-"

Rose tutted and got up to try an remove some scrunched documents from under him, "Oi, get up. This is Jack's office, show a little respect." The Doctor sulkily got up and moved to stand near the door so he could peer through the window at the chaos below.

"You got everything under control?" he asked curiously "Ooh, that's on fire. Never a good sign." He remarked in an amused tone, tapping the glass.

Rose rested a hand against Jack's desk, "Do you need to get down there? Do you need any help?"

Jack waved her offers away, "Its all fine Rosie", he assured. The office shook as a small explosion sparked somewhere below them. He covered her hand with his when he noticed her concerned face, "Gwen can handle it."

Rose glanced at the closing door and rubbed a hand over her face, "But can she handle _the Doctor_?" she asked pointing towards the empty spot in the office where he'd been standing.

"Ah." Jack breathed, allowing some concern to finally show on his face, "We should probably get down there." They left the office quickly and started down the stairs to the others, "I thought you guys had it under control." Jack called.

Rose grabbed a hold of his shoulders and tugged him down to sit on the metal stairs as a claw racked the air a couple of feet above their heads, "Your version of _'under control'_ looks an awful lot like the Doctor's."

Jack turned to give her a charming grin, "Missed you too, Rosie. Did ya forget I'm indestructible now?" He gave her a wink and got to his feet, pulling her up with him. He took in the scene before them; Gwen and Ianto stood back to back waving flamethrowers back and forth scorching the air and keeping the pterodactyls from getting within striking distance, Mickey was scrambling to get the roof mechanism to close and keep more from descending into mix, Martha was fighting off something that was trying to crawl down the walls and the Doctor was in the middle of all of it.

"Looks like he's trying to erect a force field using the Mars chargers." Rose mumbled, ignoring the surprised look Jack threw her way. She took a breath, "Well, don't wanna be left out now, do we?" she smirked. "You take the dinos and the ugh…_wall slime_, I'll help Mickey get the top shut and hey, I might even be able to stop the Doctor blowing up your place." She patted him on the shoulder and made a run to where Mickey was standing. Jack grinned after her; he loved her confidence. Time to leap into action.

Mickey grimaced as he attempted to restart the program for the ceiling; Rose bumped his shoulder as she ran up, "How's it going? Is there a manual switch somewhere?" She looked around "S'there's always a manual switch." She spotted something small up the central column and frowned at him, "That had _better not_ be it up there." She said tensely.

Jack tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, "You blow this place, ya bought it. Okay?" The Doctor made a face but didn't look up so Jack kept moving over to Gwen and Ianto, "You guys are doing great. Gwen, honey could you aim over at the wall for a sec, that _thing's_ getting awfully close to Martha. Ianto you look good, you should operate a flamethrower more often."

Mickey glared at Rose, "I didn't build this place, alright. Someone's gonna need to go up there, I'll go. You stop the Doctor-"

Rose glowered at him, "Oh, don't try the macho man thing on now Mick, it doesn't suit you. Look we'll settle this the way we did on the other side, right?" She held out her balled fist, waiting. There was a sharp screech and a burning pterodactyl fell from the sky and skittered across the floor towards them. Jack whooped from his place by Martha, as he tried to free her from the sticky invader. Gwen patted Ianto on the back and he raised his fist in triumph before getting back to it.

Back by the computer systems Mickey reluctantly put his fist out with Rose's, "One, two, three." They bounced their fists, and revealed. Mickey's fist shaping a 'rock' and Rose's forming paper.

Rose crowed, "Love ya Mick, but _come on_. You can't just keep choosing 'rock' or I'm always gonna win. Where's the fun in that?" she shook her head at him and took off for the central column, leaping over what was left of the dead dinosaur. She ran up to the Doctor who stood between her and her goal, sighing as she saw all the wires he'd been rearranging, "You gonna have this ready, then?" she asked impatiently.

The Doctor rolled the question around in his head before looking up at her, "_We'll see_. It's not rocket science, but it's close. _Rose_, don't rush me or _boom_." He made an explosion gesture with his hands. He looked closely at her as slime streaked through the air and splashed onto the floor nearby, "Oi, _watch it_." He called over to Jack. The Doctor stood up and moved his hands to rest his hips and gave her his full attention, "_Where_ are _you_ off to then?" he narrowed his eyes as he followed her line of sight to the column behind him. "_Rose_."

"I'll be careful." She promised. She tipped her head to the side, regarding him. "Just _try_ not to kill us." She asked patting him on the head as he knelt back down to keep working. She hurried on past him, watching out of the corner of her eye as Ianto, Jack, Gwen and Martha kept their attackers at bay. Everything was fine in a sense, at least for the moment.

Standing at the base she took a hold of the ladder and looked up, "If mum could see me now she'd be _horrified_." She muttered to herself, "Course, she probably wouldn't be too surprised." She launched herself up the ladder, no time to waste. She was halfway up when a Pterodactyl lunged towards her, leaning close to the ladder she fumbled in her jacket pocket, "Bloody Mondays." She looked down, "Jack!" she called "A little help."

Jack looked up concerned as a Pterodactyl dived towards Rose; he swung the laser pistol he had been aiming towards the slime up above his head, and fired. He's shots hit the dinosaur in the wing and clipped the side of its head; it gave a piercing screech and flapped up franticly to escape out the roof. He turned to Ianto, "Keep the buggers off Rose. I'm gonna grab something a little more heavy duty." He climbed down to the lockers, forcing the door open as another singed body hit the grating with a dying cry. He reached into the back, promising himself that _someone_ would be doing some organising around here _someday soon_. Pulling free a pulse launcher Jack aimed for the gap in the ceiling and locked onto the many flapping targets circling above him.

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Ha, I don't think I've ever ended on a bit of a cliffhanger before...It feels kind of good.

I like my Rose knowing what needs to be done, thinking quickly and asking the right questions...which is _probably_ why she has more lines then anyone else (I couldn't help it). I feel tho that if Season 5 had been The Doctor (10, not 10.5) and Rose together again she would be more instrumental in the science and fighting part then she used to be, because she's been doing this job sans Doctor for years and she's learnt alot.

So **review**? Maybe? Now? Could be a good time?


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for reviewing: _novacancymind_

I don't own Doctor Who or a _tractor_....

As you can see I had ALOT of fun writing Jack and his team into the story...it just goes on and on (but hopefully not in a bad way).

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_Jack looked up concerned as a Pterodactyl dived towards Rose; he swung the laser pistol he had been aiming towards the slime up above his head, and fired. He's shots hit the dinosaur in the wing and clipped the side of its head; it gave a piercing screech and flapped up franticly to escape out the roof. He turned to Ianto, "Keep the buggers off Rose. I'm gonna grab something a little more heavy duty." He climbed down to the lockers, forcing the door open as another singed body hit the grating with a dying cry. He reached into the back, promising himself that someone would be doing some organising around here someday soon. Pulling free a pulse launcher Jack aimed for the gap in the ceiling and locked onto the many flapping targets circling above him._

* * *

Rose got to the top a little breathless; she swung herself onto the crow's nest at the top and ran a hand over the panel containing the manual controls. They were labelled clearly, actually looking closer she had a feeling Jack had had a hand in writing them seeing as they read 'Stairway to heaven', 'Keeping hell in' and 'The Uhoh button'. There was a thunderous noise and four of the prehistoric birds fell from the sky, she looked down and saw Jack standing in an action hero stance. Rose rolled her eyes, _boys and their toys_. She pressed the red button, deciding to 'keep hell in' and hope for the best. She glanced up anxiously as motor's started humming and the gap in the ceiling began to slowly close, all the Pterodactyls screeched and it echoed off the walls creating a deafening sound as the majority of them raced for the opening.

The Doctor covered his sensitive ears, "Oi, working with explosive elements here. I need a little shush."

Gwen, Martha and Ianto covered their ears and knelt on the ground, grimacing.

"Bloody hell!" Mickey yelled into the reverberating din as he huddled under the computer desk holding his head.

Jack slung his launcher over his arm, aimed and locked onto the creatures that didn't seem to be moving out fast enough, he didn't bother covering his ears – wasn't like he could go deaf…at least not _permanently_. The launcher roared to life and this time five fell, and the abhorrent sound lessened just a tad.

Rose slid down the ladder, letting it run through her hands, she was anxious to get as far away from the pterodactyls and the horrid noise as soon as possible. She pulled a face once she'd landed as some burning corpses rolled to a stop nearby, "_Jack_, lighten up on the firepower!" she shouted, "Damn it Mickey, grab a fire extinguisher." She waved angrily at him as she ran over to the Doctor. "What's the distance on this thing going to be?" She asked kneeling down next to him "If they can't get in here, then _they're gonna go elsewhere_." Rose questioned quickly and anxiously.

Jack took a couple of shots at the remaining birds, after setting it to stun. Not that he was afraid of Rose Tyler or anything. They fell to the ground like stones, after a couple of thumps the Doctor turned to Rose, "I _know_ that." He looked worried, "_If_ I can get it full strength we'll get about six square city wide blocks." He brushed a frustrated hand through his hair "I need…" he looked down at his fingers and indicated how long "a piece of something conductive this long. Can you-"

Rose put her hand in her inner jacket pocket and produced a strip of metal, she grinned "Steel alright?" she asked handing it over and running a glance over Mickey's jumpy use of the fire extinguisher on the burning remains. "Jack?" she called and he nodded already on his way to the monitors to track the migration. She pushed a few strands of blonde hair behind her ear, "God, I'm turning into you. Carrying stuff around." She sighed heavily.

The Doctor grinned, despite the situation, "Might have to get you your own screwdriver."

Rose giggled and wacked him on the shoulder, mirroring his grin, "I'd rather borrow yours." She got up, hurrying over to the monitors; she stood at Jack's shoulder "Have you got a lock on them yet?"

He typed hurriedly, watching the screen intently as he tried to focus a satellite on the area, "Keep your pants on Rosie, and I don't say that too often." He gave her a smirk, "I've only got two hands remember…although I met this one bloke who-" Rose elbowed him in the side cutting him off, he grinned and then his expression became excited "Yes, got them." He frowned "They're not keeping together." He smashed a hand onto the console "Damn it. We'll be chasing down these things for weeks. They'll be_ sightings, someone's_ going to pick this up on their _scans;_ the Air Force, the Army." He gave a rueful sigh, " And _Unit_. Damned if they don't keep mentioning this for the next couple of years."

Rose rubbed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Hey, now. You're getting ahead of yourself. We still have time to get this under control, today."

Jack turned to her, his eyes lit up with delight, "_You_ sound like you have an idea. Come on sweetheart spit it out."

Rose's tongue peeped out the side of her mouth and her eyes danced, "I'm gonna speak to the Doctor first, see if it's possible." She blew out a puff of air and turned to watch Martha, Gwen and Mickey struggled to gather together the Pterodactyls that were stunned and scattered around the vast room. "You should help with some of the clean up. We're gonna be in alota trouble if those things wake up, all unrestrained and _grumpy_." She added the last bit thoughtfully biting on her bottom lip.

Jack narrowed his eyes at her, "Since when do I take my orders from a Miss Rose Tyler?"

"Since always, didn't you get the memo?" She answered cheekily and rushed over to the Doctor's side. "Hey, I was thinking-"

"Uh oh."

"Oi! Look, _what if_ instead of keepin' them out we keep them in? Can you reverse the field to close it up or would that be too difficult?"

The Doctor glanced at her now wearing his brainy specks and his mouth quirked up, "You, _Rose Tyler _should think more often. That is a _very good_ idea. Flock not keeping together? You know, pterodactyls in my experience-"

"_Doctor_." Rose said warningly.

"_Right_, well if I switch a couple of these wires I'll be able to change the way it distributes the field. Then _Bob's your uncle_." He peered at her through his glasses, "Have you got an uncle Bob?"

Rose groaned and shook her head, "Doctor, can you get it ready in say 5 minutes? Would we need to be anywhere in particular when we set it off?"

"Oh, well we'd need to be above them for starters. _Any_ of them are above where we set it off and they won't be captured." He mumbled absently as he put the finishing touches on the device.

Rose captured one of his hands in hers to get his attention, "_Above_?" she repeated slowly. She panned her head slowly to look at the ceiling above them, "And how are _exactly_ are we supposed to do that then? What's the _max_ height a pterodactyl gets up to anyway?" She covered his mouth with her other hand to stop him answering, "Look, I'll speak to Jack. See what he can do." She said as she stood up and started walking away.

"Was it _really_ worth ruining my day by making this little stop instead of going part shopping? Or even following that strange signal I was picking up?" he called after her.

She spun around and laughed, "Oh, you _love_ it. Don't act like you're not enjoying yourself." He stuck his tongue out at her and she responded in kind.

Jack looked up as he finished attaching cords around one of the dinosaurs when Rose appeared at his side, "So, all systems go? Do I get to find out what plan b is?"

Rose rolled her eyes, "We're going to _try_ and catch them in a great big force field net. Then I guess it's up to you lot what happen to them after that." She stroked a hand over the scales of the creature nearest to them, a little bit in awe "They're actually quite beautiful up close. When they're not trying to kill you."

Jack smiled at her fondly, "You're too soft hearted Rosie. These things are killing machines."

"I _know_ that." She whined, "Oh." She turned to him pretending to suddenly remembering something "The Doctor says we have to get above the dinos to catch them…so ah if you could work out the details, _that would be great."_ Rose turned quickly to go help Mickey.

"Uh uh uh, _not_ so fast sweetheart." Jack said grabbing her waist and swinging her back around to face him. "I have to do _what_?!"

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So please **review**, and I have to say I _really_ love writing Jack and Rose. Is this fic funny? Am I keeping them somewhere within character or missing the mark? Come on review you know you want to.


	5. Chapter 5

Not so much interest in this one, which is a pity because I'm approaching 30,000 words and have almost finished it. I'm going to post it anyway, but I'm kinda busy at the moment so separating my word doc into chapters is not high on my list (especially because it kinda sucks) - but I'll get it all up eventually. This is extra long because..._well_ because i hate separating chapters so instead of this being 1 and 1/4 chapters it's one because I'm lazy. Enjoy...hopefully.

I don't own Doctor Who or tap shoes.

Warning: While this is a Rose/Doctor story I find Jack and Rose conversations and flirting to be highly amusing (I don't know why...he's a bit like a big brother, a best friend and an ex all rolled into one very nice package)...so yeah, this story has quite a bit of Jack/Rose (But as friends! Okay, just friends.)

Oh, and the stupid thing has decided to bold the whole chapter and won't let me turn it off, so I apologize if it's hard to read.

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_"__Uh uh uh, not so fast sweetheart." Jack said grabbing her waist and swinging her back around to face him. "I have to do what?!"_

* * *

Rose licked her lips, "Well, there _must_ be a helicopter or plane or something we could borrow? Gwen's a cop they have helicopters…"

Jack looked dubiously at her, "Rose, where do you-" he sighed heavily and thought for a moment "There's a airfield near here, we could always help ourselves to one of their magnificent machines." He watched her to see what she thought.

"When I said _'borrow' _one…" she smirked "so _not_ what I meant." She leaned her forehead against his chest and mumbled "But sure, why not. _Let's liberate a helicopter_." She looked up and saw Jack's face, which made her chuckle. "You have _no idea_ what I did before I found my way back here. I actually have my pilot's licence if you need a co-pilot." She offered sweetly.

Jack shook his head in wonderment at the beaming woman before him, "If neither of us were taken…"

Rose scrunched her nose, "_You'd_ what?" she dared him, amused.

Jack leaned forward close enough to kiss her, his warm breath tickling her face "You have _no idea_." He teased tapping her nose gently. Their gazes remained locked for a moment sending them back to the first time she'd been in his arms; in front of Big Ben, floating in the sky during world war two, Mickey's shouting brought them back to the present.

"Could you two stop loitering, we've got trouble!"

They both smiled slowly and Jack removed his arms from around her, taking her hand as they both dashed over to where the others were standing. "What's wrong now? Is there a _weevil rebellion_? _Have they taken hostages_?" He asked sarcastically.

Rose looked up at him confused but curious, "What's a 'weevil'?"

Gwen turned to her, "Mostly pretty harmless. Usually nothing to worry about, but on a day like today…" she let the sentence fade off.

"You have much of a weevil problem here in Cardiff?" The Doctor asked from Rose's other side.

"It's small." Jack dismissed "Nothing we can't handle."

Rose covered her mouth; desperately trying not to laugh as she thought of how closely that echoed what he'd said earlier. The Doctor nudged Rose and she squeaked, "Thinks he can handle _everything_." He muttered into her ear.

"_Right_. Guys, could you _possibly_ turn your attention to something a _little_ more important then a weevil problem that's _not_ currently bothering us?" Mickey asked exasperated as he tapped away at the keys of his keyboard. "Here, this is the problem." He said gesturing to what he'd just brought up on screen. Some little blue dots were appearing against a dark background as a circle rippled outward.

"And _what_ exactly would we be looking at?" Martha asked peering closer as letters and numbers appeared at the bottom.

"Looks like…radar." Ignito said slowly, "You know like on those old films Jack makes us watch, with the submarines?"

Jack snorted. The Doctor turned to Mickey, "So someone's tracking the flock. Can you find out who?"

"Just give me a minute, I've been working at this for the last five minutes. Whoever it is isn't exactly security lax…Ooh there. Gotcha." Another screen lit with words and titles and voices began coming through the speakers sitting above the desk.

Rose speed read the words appearing on the screen as the Doctor did the same beside her, she recognised the voices as people communicating by radio.

"Unit." Rose, the Doctor and Jack muttered at the same time, they looked at each other and exchanged dark looks. They might not get a chance to do things their way.

"Oi, What's wrong with Unit?" Martha asked defensively as she caught their looks.

Gwen turned to look at Jack, before glancing at Rose and the Doctor, "Is there anything I can do?"

The Doctor and Rose exchanged looks, "_Road blocks_, your lot are always good at that. Could you perhaps put out something to keep people from occupying the air space above Cardiff?" The Doctor asked finally.

Jack nodded, "Yeah, It's gonna get even crazier if we're trying not to catch _people_ up in our net with the dinosaurs."

Mickey, Martha, Gwen and Ignito looked up at that. It was Ignito who asked the question on all of their minds, "_Net_?"

Rose chewed some gum as she leaned against the helicopter, waiting for Jack. The Doctor appeared at her side, she glanced up at him. "I was wandering where you'd popped off to. Gonna wish me luck?"

"You'll need it to with Jack flying." The Doctor said dryly. He moved to lean beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders, "Now, remember what I told you. Press-"

"The green button, hold for five seconds. Let go, I've got five seconds to get it out of the craft before the field will activate." She finished for him. "Yes, I know. You repeated it at least six times on the way over here." She rolled her eyes "My memory does last longer then five seconds you know."

"For everyone's sake I sure hope so." Rose elbowed him in the side and he grunted. "Not that I _don't_ have complete faith in your abilities." He added quietly.

Rose rested her head on his shoulder, "But, do you think it will work?" she asked seriously. Then sighed, "This little social call is turning into quite a large production." She admitted with a tired smile, "Can you _believe_ that I really thought we were just going to drop in with no funny business for once…" she blew out with a frustrated breath.

"'Funny business'?" The Doctor asked, eyebrows raised.

"You know…" Rose swished her hands around, indicating everything around them "Fending off Pterodactyls and evil slime in the middle of Cardiff, stealing helicopters to release a force field to round up said wandering dinos…the usual. It's just nuts; people don't live like this _everyday_. When did this become normal?"

The Doctor looked down at her with a confused look, "Rose, it's _not_ like this _everyday_." He argued, "And we do plenty of normal things…"

"Like?"

"You made me clean the spare rooms in the south corridor with you."

"Spring cleaning, and that was forever ago." She reasoned.

"_And_ we catalogued the library a couple of weeks ago, _and_ we went for that stroll that turned into a picnic just last week."

"That turned into a run for our lives when that bear found us." Rose deadpanned. "I _told_ you not to go into that cave. You _never_ listen to me."

He tightened his arm around her, "I have a good feeling about this one."

Rose groaned, "Ah, don't say that. You'll jinx us," she said giving him a shove. She grinned seeing Jack running over to them, "Oh, _about time_." Her eyes raked over his outfit, before coming to rest squarely on his clear shining eyes "You Top Gunned it up." She smiled recognising the similarity between his clothes and the ones from one of his favourite movies. "Jack, we'll be in the air for all of twenty minutes. Is it really worth it?" she asked amused.

"Jealous." Jack drawled, before producing a helmet from behind his back and holding it out to her. Rose tried hard to keep from looking ecstatic, as the Doctor narrowed his eyes a little from beside her. "For you milady, since you are my wingman after all."

Rose accepted the helmet and tried it on with a giggle, "Wingwoman." She corrected poking him in the chest.

"Shouldn't you guys be off?" The Doctor interrupted dryly, "World to save and all that. _Well_, I say world I mean Cardiff and when you think about it really…" he made an 'is it worth the bother' gesture with his hand rocking back on his heels.

A glance passed between the Pilot and the co-pilot and they both subtly moved a little closer to him, until they stood on either side. The Doctor looked suspiciously at Rose and Jack, "What are y- Aah!" he gasped as they both leapt forward to rub their hands through his dark hair, fluffing it up. He disentangled himself from them and ran to a safe distance, "_What was that for_?" he called in a slightly miffed tone.

Rose and Jack stood side-by-side to admire their handy work as Martha and Ianto darted up from the hanger to stand next to the Doctor and watch the take off. They frowned at him as he tried desperately to smooth his hair back down, "You're all set." Martha called out, keeping one eye on the Doctor's hair. "Take off when you're ready." The Doctor scowled as Jack whispered something to Rose that made her suddenly burst into howling laughter.

Ianto looked at the Doctor, frowning "What on Earth have you done to your hair?" he asked innocently. Astonished when the man turned his thunderous expression on him he quickly buttoned his lip. _Really_ didn't seem like a nice day to die…he had after all rented an overnight movie and if he didn't return it the fines would be astronomical.

Jack dialled up Mickey on his communicator, walking over to say goodbye to Martha and Ianto – they'd be leaving to go keep Unit busy as soon as he and Rose took off. "Mickey? Good, what are they up to? We're just about to take off."

Rose stayed were she was, waiting for the Doctor to come to her. Eventually he decided it was safe and strode over, he took a hold of Rose's helmet with both hands and looked down at her. She looked questioningly up at him as he slid the helmet up halfway and bent down to press a soft kiss to her lips. He slid the helmet back down and looked at her pointedly, "I want that helmet brought back in one piece." Rose giggled and he sighed, "Why is everything so much better when you do it? _I just end up sounding silly."_

Rose beamed at him, pulled the helmet off in a slick movement and threw her arms around his neck, "I wouldn't have you any other way." She murmured squeezing him tightly. The Doctor picked her up and swung her around, causing Rose to laugh happily into his neck.

Jack tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, "Now, it _really_ _is_ time to jet. I'd appreciate if you'd put my co-pilot down." He smirked moving to climb into the helicopter.

* * *

Review, please. 


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Doctor Who or slippers (why? Because I see them as unnecessary, why would i need shoes indoors?)

Thank you for the quick response from reviewers: Bananadaiquiri, Dreamcatcher49 and Tis Lucy maytee - you guys made me post quicker (let _that_ be a lesson to the rest of you). I'm just glad I'm not the only one to get something out of this story...apparently there are 4 of us :)

Hurray no bolding of my story...the horrendous bold situation is over - rejoice.

* * *

_Jack tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, "Now, it really is time to jet. I'd appreciate if you'd put my co-pilot down." He smirked moving to climb into the helicopter._

* * *

Rose's feet had barely land settled on the ground when the Doctor's hands left her sides to rifle through his coat pockets, he produced the device, his screwdriver and a pulley apparatus. He got to work setting it all up against the belly of the helicopter. When he'd finished-with a little help from Rose- the device was set to hang from bottom, once it was activated and he handed the remote to Rose. "Good Luck." He said shortly, looking a bit miffed that it wouldn't be him going up there with her. "I calibrated it so that it'll recognise the DNA signature of the creatures, send out a pulse at a the edges of its reach, forcing them to flock to the middle, before solidifying at the fringes and shrinking to a reasonable size for the number of captives." He rock back on his heels and Rose raised an eyebrow, "I had a bit of time on the ride over here." He explained nonchalantly.

Rose clasped the remote in one hand and his in the other, she watched as their hands separated and felt a pang somewhere deep inside. She rolled her eyes at herself, honestly she'd see him in a matter of minutes, "We'll be back before you know it." She assured stepping into the craft and shutting the door with a bang. Jack started the engines and the Doctor stood back, his coat billowing around him.

Rose looked down in wonder as the city of Cardiff seemed to shrink before her eyes, she gasped looking at the rising sun hitting the river and making it sparkle, "It's _so_ beautiful."

Jack grinned, "Ah, but Rosie _you_ can see the beauty in anything. I could show you a rock and you'd be able to tell me something positive about it."

"You gave me a _moon rock_ for my birthday. It wasn't just some ordinary rock!" she protested, keeping her eyes on the view.

"Honey, a rock is a rock. Jack shrugged. He pulled the craft around and the pterodactyls came into view, "Here we go." He said giving the controls a burst of speed. They soared above the city, both of them laughing at the feeling of gravity dropping away below them. Positioning the craft above the circling dinosaurs, Jack turned to Rose, "Ready?" he asked a little breathlessly.

"Naturally." Said Rose, Pushing the button on the remote and switching on the force field device, then activating the pulley to suspend it at a safe distance below them. There was a burst of energy as soon as it was lowered and the helicopter shook as the air was disturbed, Rose seized Jack's sleeve, "Ooh." She gasped, "That's got a bit of a kick to it."

They felt rather then saw the energy spread out below, the air vibrating, making the hairs on their arms stand as the static built around them. Jack kept them steadily hovering and turned his hand over to link their fingers, "Now _that's_ beautiful." He said referring to the power flowing below them. The creatures below them drew away from the fringes of the city and clumped into a large group, progressively circling in smaller and smaller circles.

"This is incredible. How many people to you reckon are watching this?" she asked leaning to peer outside her door's window.

"It is _barely_ six in the morning, but we can check." He tapped his earpiece, "Mickey, how many spectators we got out there?"

"Blimey, I wish I could see it from your angle, still _from what I can see_ from here looks-" Mickey's voice crackled through their earpieces.

"_Mickey_." Rose chided. Jack rolled his eyes at her.

Mickey sighed, "Yeh, since when does anyone want to listen to my personal opinion _ever_. Don't know what I was thinking…" there was some tapping, "Let's see…you got the attention of pretty much every agency watching the rift, congratulations."

"Mick, I thought you were supposed to be runnin' interference?" Rose interrupted.

"_I am_." He groaned, "But, _unfortunately_ all I can do is slow 'em down. I can't exactly shield a dinosaur cyclone happenin' four thousand feet in the air above Cardiff. There's not much to redirect them _too_ at the moment. Even if there was…"

"There's _not much_ more interesting then this going on at the oddest of times." Rose finished for him.

"Really says something about the state of things." Jack remarked disbelievingly. He looked at Rose, "Has the field got as small as it's going to? Is it stable?"

She checked the panel in her lap, sliding her fingers across the touch sensitive screen as information appeared. "Yep, We can move them now." She looked surprised for a moment, " There are seventy eight life signs coming from the field. Ha, it even filtered out the bugs." She grinned. "The Doctor really out did himself."

"Oh, it's _so nice_ to be appreciated." The Doctor's voice cheeped cheerfully into their ears.

Jack sighed, "Doc, nice of you to join us. You hear the whole conversation? Or do we have to catch you up?"

"Nah, I heard everything. Just figured it was time I spoke up."

"Well, that's alright then since there's nothing creepy or anything 'bout you eavesdropping." Mickey said hissed sarcastically.

Rose chuckled and squeezed Jack's hand, he grinned at her as the two men started arguing back and forth. They let them go on for a minute. "Ah, guys?" Jack queried.

"You _done_? _We still have a lot of work to do_." Rose added.

"Perhaps you guys could argue on another channel." Jack suggested.

The Doctor gave a dramatic sigh, "It's alright, I'll be the bigger man. _As usual_. But you _Rose Tyler_ had better get back here soon…I need someone intelligent to talk to." There was a beep and the line went silent.

"Rose, I don't know _how_ you put up with him." Mickey added before signing off.

"Peace at last." Jack grinned.

"_Pity me_, you lot are the most important people in my life. And you find it _impossible_ to get on for five minutes." Rose said melodramatically, taking a cue from the Doctor.

"Less." Jack quipped, squeezing her hand again before letting go and turning the craft around, cargo in tow below them.

* * *

At the monitors Mickey worked at effectively blocking the communications and satellite pictures being filtered through to various agencies, his fingers flew over the keyboard, a frown creasing his face despite the fact he was enjoying himself. Martha also back at Torchwood three was analysing the goo she'd managed to scrape from the walls, it had become inactive so she was going to find out why – and of course what had set it off in the first place. Gwen did her best to keep the airspace clear; some very helpful people who didn't ask too many questions owed her a couple of big favours. Ianto set about creating some type of cover to keep too many people from seeing the spectacle in the sky. The Doctor was already ahead of him on that front, he'd gotten back to the Tardis and released a cover of sorts.

Rose squinted down at the city below, "_Jack_, do you get much fog around here?"

Jack frowned and followed her gaze, "That's unusual."

Rose looked back at him in disbelief, "We're hauling thousands of tons of dinosaur over Cardiff _and the fog is unusual_?" Jack's blue eye's twinkled but he didn't reply. Rose frowned, "So, what's going to happen to them?" she asked, "What does one _do_ with seventy-eight pterodactyls in modern day Wales?"

"You'd be surprised, nice pair of shoes, wallet…"

Rose gaped, and smacked him on the shoulder, "That's not funny."

"Who said I was joking?" he asked seriously. He chuckled at her glare, "Fine. They'll be well cared for…you'd be surprised at the number of living things that tumble through the void." He smirked, "It's _not always_ a pretty blonde, so we've had to figure out a place to keep them. You're gonna love this." He promised.

"As long as it doesn't take too long."

"S'alright I haven't forgotten you got your sweetie waiting for you."

Rose giggled, "Dare you to call him that to his _face_! That _would_ be priceless."

"Noticed you two seemed a bit more touchy-touchy, although with you two someone flips on a light switch it was hug time." Rose made a protesting noise and he shushed her, "I just wanted to find out if you guys were alright. It's just the Doctor didn't look so good last time I saw him, I wanted to make sure you weren't struggling under all his crap…You haven't got your family anymore to turn to if things get rough." He said soberly.

Rose stopped examining her hands and turned her whole body to face him, her head resting on the headrest, "I'm fine Jack." She said sincerely "We're both doing better then expected, in some ways it's like it was – but we've both changed, and that's a _good thing_. We're not looking at everything through rose coloured glasses anymore; too many people have been hurt- us included. It's better…" she explained, biting her lip. "He talks to me now, really talks."

Jack turned and held her gaze for a moment, "That's fantastic Rosie."

She pursed her lips, "Just what _would_ you have done if I wasn't happy?"

"Well, then I would have had to _kidnapped_ you." Jack answered confidently turning back to the windscreen as Rose burst out laughing. "_Deprogrammed you_." He added joining in her laughter.

Rose sighed happily once she'd finally stopped laughing, "You always know just the right things to say. But you're wrong though, I've still got my family." She leaned over and ruffled his hair, "There's _you_ for one, and Mickey and I've been keeping in contact with Sarah-Jane. Plus there's usually too much going on for me to get lonely, and in those rare quiet moments I have the Doctor. And you and Sarah-Jane are a phone call away." She stated honestly.

"It was never really a question for you was it?" Jack asked softly.

Rose gave a small smile, "I know where I belong." Her smile turned into a grin, "Doctor had a bit of a hissy fit though. Like I can't make up my _own_ mind."

* * *

Review, review, review.

Note: I wanted Jack and Rose to have a heart to heart because I think he'd be very protective of her if she came back (unlike what we got in the series finale where he's like 'no, no Rose let the Doctor die its going to be fine' and then didn't speak to her at _all_ after that). I also love stories where there's acknowledgment that the bond between Jack, Rose and the Doctor is special like a family...so that's what I'm trying to show...without getting gooey. Hopefully.

Also I think the Doctor would SO have thrown a fit if she'd refused to do as he said, so that's why that's in there.

Oh, and just so you know and I know you know so that we all know that we know, I know - or at least i think I know how to end this. I've gotten as far as having them say goodbye...but they haven't left yet and there are a couple of loose ends that are floating around...still. So just so you know :)


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Doctor Who or any pearls...

**Thanks to all my reviewers** (especially the people who keep making the effort to review: _Tis Lucy maytee_ and _Bananadaiquiri_ and new reviewer _Lizzle09_), it's a lot more interesting when people make comments.

Alrighty maties! (yeah, I've been thinking pirates lately...which would make a good sequel or one-shot [_note to self_]) This chapter **introduces my own character** (be gentle he's all new and barely formed past two dimensional) Caleb Isaac - Irish and handsome. Here's the thing, picture **Colin Ferrell** (because that's what I did) but change his eye colour to green and wah laa! Cal Isaac can be pictured in your head with everyone else. I may or may not have made him taller... Oh and yes pearls (to me) relate heavily to treasure which relates to pirates so yeah - pirates on the brain :)

* * *

They'd set down a couple of miles out of Cardiff, in what had looked like an empty field from the sky, but according to Jack it contained an enormous cavernous underground bunker. Rose had been impressed. They'd had to release the device from the pulley so they could set down, and the field had held the pterodactyls in as they scratched angrily at the invisible walls that held them. A man had been there to meet them, whom Jack had introduced as Cal Isaac.

Cal was a thirtyish year old Irishman, at least six feet tall with piercing intelligent green eyes and a sturdy build.

Cal shook Rose's hand, "Pleasure to meet a friend of Jack's." he shook his head looking at the dinosaurs, "Now _that_ is _some_ haul."

Jack grinned, his arm around Rose's shoulders, "You know me, I like to impress."

Rose snorted, "So, what's next?" she asked meeting Cal's eyes, eager to get back to the Doctor.

Cal smirked, crinkling his bright green eyes at her and running a hand through his short black hair, "Direct little thing aren't you?"

Jack's arm tightened around her, and Rose decided to let that comment go. She gave him a tight smile, "Hmmm… _So,_ I guess we need to work out where your gonna store them, and how to get them out of the force field without letting any escape or tear us apart." She said pointedly, in a professional tone.

Cal looked between them, "No offence meant." He assured.

"Of course not." Rose said raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Well, I guess you two should come inside." He said gesturing to an open trapdoor that revealed a metal platform. "They gonna stay in there while we're gone? How much power's left?"

"Good question." Jack said looking to Rose.

She was about to reach into her jacket when her phone rang; her eyes flew to Jack's. "Two guesses who that is." He smirked as she flipped it out.

"Doctor?" she listened for a moment, "Well it hasn't been an hour yet-" she smiled and walked a little bit away from the two men, "Yes, I know that's being technical. _You're_ always being technical." She listened to him for a bit longer, twisting a piece of hair around her finger and her face lit up "That's not _true_!" she protested giggling. Jack managed to catch her eye and she remembered that they were in the middle of something, "_Oh, forget that_. Look, how long will the energy cell last in the force field? Ooh wait I'll put you on speakerphone." She said taking the phone away from her ear and pressing a button as she walked back towards Jack and Cal.

The Doctor's voice started filtering through the phone, "You've got about an hour. I do hope you haven't run off with Jack, who'd help me find my glasses then?"

Rose made a face at the phone, "Oh, I'm sure you'd find someone." She assured, "You always do."

Jack took the phone from Rose, "Hey, Doc is there anyway to turn off just a wall of the field. We need a way to direct them out…without losing an eye…or worse."

"Sure, _why not_ tamper with my beautiful handiwork-"

"_Tell_ Jack what to do to get them out of there, or I'm running off with him." Rose threatened. She smiled at Jack, "I've heard only _good things_ about Greenland…"

"_Fine_." The Doctor sighed, "You'll have to access the programming and take off the failsafe I built in to prevent one wall being turned off without the others. Then rewrite some code to fill in the gaps, it won't be pretty but it should work." He explained.

"Cool. Can't stop and chat, work to do. Pretty blondes to run off with." Jack smirked handing the phone back to Rose as she swapped him for the panel she'd pulled out of her jacket pocket.

"I can get the enclosures ready, while you do that. How many you got?" Cal said speaking up finally and trying to make himself useful.

"Rose, where are you?" the Doctor asked suspiciously.

"Uh, that would be great Cal, we have seventy-eight…" she glanced at the dinosaurs and frowned, "or at least we _did_." She said looking at the prone form lying at the bottom, not moving. "Oh no." she whispered sadly.

Jack squeezed Rose's shoulder before going back to rewriting the Doctor's codes on the panel.

"_Rose_?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, one of them didn't make it."

"As opposed to the nine who fell flaming to the grating." The Doctor said dryly.

Rose whistled through her teeth, "_Well now the body count's at ten_. I'll see you later, I want to check out the enclosures with Cal." She narrowed her eyes, "We'll be underground and I'm not sure how much of a signal I'll have, so I'll call you when I'm free." She said snapping the phone shut and turning it off before he could say anything else. She made a face at it before putting it back in her pocket; she walked over to Cal, "_Shall we_?"

Cal looked at her curiously, "Sure." He said leading the way with a backward glance at Jack, "Let's go." He stepped onto the metal panel, waited for Rose to step there too and pressed a button with his foot, starting the decent into the bunker.

As they descended Rose noticed him looking at her out of the corner of his eye and shook her head, "You listen to _hour_ long rants on the evils of Torchwood having an arsenal and see how _peppy_ you are when he makes his little digs." She muttered.

* * *

Rose walked the length of the enclosure, trying not to gasp. It was incredible, she'd have no idea she was underground if she hadn't just taken the two-minute ride down here. The ceiling for one thing was so high she wasn't sure she could even see it. If they could get the helicopter down here, they could have flown it easily without crashing into any walls. Cal pulled up in a buggy beside her, "Going my way? You should see the environmental zones we've established…they don't look so much like an empty plane hanger."

"I was thinking more like batman's batcave." Rose smiled, climbing in beside him. "Do you have ones set up for dinosaurs?"

"One, but it's full. We'll keep them in this one while we build theirs especially suited to their needs."

"Makes sense." Rose nodded. "So, could I see some of the others?"

"Sure." Cal agreed, driving them down a long hallway.

"Do you work alone?…I mean we haven't passed anyone else." Rose asked gently.

"Wandering if I'm some eccentric hermit type who lives in the Earth with a bunch of bizarre creatures?" Cal asked amused. Rose gave him an apologetic look, "It's alright." He chuckled, "I'm sure this looks pretty strange even to someone used to the strange, I mean you're not one to flinch at secret underground bunkers."

"What kind of person would I be if I had?" Rose smiled, "I like to think I'm made of stronger stuff." She watched the hallway whip by for a moment; "So you were saying?" she said redirecting the conversation back to her question.

Cal laughed, "You're persistent, I have to give you that. Well, everyone who works here – and when I say everyone I mean me and twelve others – is a previous Torchwood employee-"

"Previous?"

"Well, I guess _technically_ we get paid by Torchwood to keep their little messes secret but we like to think they don't have much sway within these walls."

Rose nodded sympathising, "It's nice to be your own boss." Her brows drew together, "Course you still have office politics to deal with, someone's got to be in charge."

Cal smirked, as they turned the corner "That your subtle way of askin' me if I'm in charge around here?"

Rose matched his smirk, "Must not have been _subtle enough_, you get a little rusty at subtle travelling with the Doctor."

Cal nodded, "I'll take your word for that." He pulled up to the next enclosure, "And for your information yes I am _in charge_, and the paper work is hell." He gestured in front of them, "What do you think of that then?"

Rose turned and gasped, before them was a full on replica of the Jurassic period – and she should know having been there twice. She got out of the buggy and walked up to the clear wall before them, pressing her palms against it. Trees swayed in the breeze, birds flew and chattered. A caveman loped over a hill dragging a deer carcass back to a waiting group. Rose laughed, "This is incredible." She turned to Cal beside her, "Do they know? Do they know that something's wrong and this isn't home?"

He considered her question; "They had the _original shock_ of entering the modern world, before coming here. So they know things are _different_." He leaned closer to the window, "Otherwise, they're happy. Their behaviour is consistent, and we've had no major problems acclimatising them to the closest representation to the Jurassic period as we could get." He rubbed a tired hand through his hair, "Actually they are _by far_ the easiest enclosure to maintain, very few fights or disruptions."

Rose straightened up, "_Can they see us_? Wouldn't seeing a well-lit hallway on the other side of a window be a bit disturbing?"

Cal tapped the window, "Nah, one of the few benefits of working _with_ Torchwood is we get the latest in building materials. This" he tapped the window "is one-way _sight and sound_."

"Very clever." Rose gushed, trying to sound appropriately impressed.

Cal looked at her and narrowed his eyes, "You've seen better?"

"Well…" she admitted reluctantly, "I've seen whole cities made out of touchable, malleable, solid holograms." She looked down at her hands, "and that was pretty cool." She finished softly.

"Solid….?" Cal begun and then stared at her, "Bet you've got some incredible tales to tell." He said respectfully. There was a beep and they both looked down at his watch.

Rose gaped, "_You don't_!" she protested with a laugh "How spock are you?" she said in disbelief as he pressed a button on his watch and brought it closer to his mouth.

Cal made a face at her, "Yes?" he asked the person on the other end of the line. Rose left him to it, walking away a little to give him space while she pulled out her phone and turned it on.

She chose her second speed dial – Jack, she'd gotten his number on the ride over here – putting it to her ear she waited while it rang. He picked up on the third ring, "How's it going?" she asked, not bothering with a greeting.

"I've just about got the code finished, I'd give it a test run but-"

"You don't want to be torn limb from limb as you release frustrated pterodactyls into the unsuspecting Welsh countryside?"

She could hear the smile in his voice, "That about sums it up. How are things on your end?"

"Cal's got an amazing world down here. I almost wish we had more time, so we could explore. I swear it'd take a couple of days to see every square inch, and that's without taking in all the detail."

"He's charmed _you,_ then?" Jack said sounding amused.

"Noooo." Rose protested, "He didn't have to, a cyberman could be showing me around and I'd still be gushing."

"That good is it? I haven't been down in a couple of years…and back then I didn't have much time to stick around and check out the scenery."

"Is _that_ what I'm doing?"

"_No_, you _Rose Tyler_ are making sure that the enclosure arranged for our waiting charges is suitable, because nothing but that would be put you at ease in leaving them here."

"And now I feel all warm and fuzzy." Rose giggled, before noticing that Cal was waiting patiently for her. "Honey I've got to go, Cal's waiting."

"You sound very at home, might have to leave you down there and tell the Doctor you ran off with a handsome Irishman." Jack teased.

"Don't you _dare_ leave without me Captain Jack Harkness I know your _darkest secrets_." Rose threatened playfully as she hung up. She glanced at her phone and groaned, "Four missed calls." She muttered to herself, "_Ruddying Timelord_." She switched off her phone after sending him a quick text telling him to stop being so clingy, they've been separated in jail cells longer then this. Turning back to Cal she smiled, "So, time to get back to business." She climbed back into the buggy and enquired curiously, "Do all of you get buggy's? Because that in itself is _almost_ good enough to live below the surface, not seeing natural light or the sky for hours."

* * *

Review and good karma will come your way....(the previous statement is backed up by no evidence whatsoever and your own luck is hopefully in your own hands).

Oh and in case you wanted another tidbit of information about this story: 

I named him Caleb because i was watching East of Eden at the time (LOVE that movie!).

[sigh] James Dean :) ---Who looks a little like James Franco -----who was in Freaks and Geeks ----which happens to be the other story I'm (supposed to be) writing chapters for....ahh I love how everything is connected.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to everyone reading and alerting and reviewing** it definitely acts as a bit of a prod to get back to posting (I know what it's like to read a fic that ends suddenly because the writer's had writer's block or lost interest or forgotten that they've left everyone hanging - So I'll try to get it all up). It makes me smile every-time I get the little review or favorite alert in my inbox...so keep it up.

I do not own Doctor Who or a scarf...wait I lie I _do_ own a scarf, a rainbow scarf but I don't wear it so........yeah....hmmm....no, I'm not sure where this is going either :) I'm too lazy to change it to something else.

This is a quick chapter (because its the weekend and I have a few things to do), I've cut up the next 2 chapters so I'll be able to post them quicker (after a few reviews), hopefully. But I haven't had much chance to sit down a write anymore to this fic so its steady at 30,000 words (so yay! lots to post....we're not even halfway there).

* * *

Jack followed behind the smartly dressed woman before him; she'd introduced herself as Jean and told him that she'd been sent by Cal to lead him under the surface. She'd seemed a little rushed, and didn't really want to chat so they walked silently. They reached a corridor that led off into a medium sized room that housed a small kitchen, with a large rectangular table centred in the middle, Jack quickly spotted Rose. She sat at the head of the table with Cal on one side, listening intently to a man sitting on Cal's left, he headed to her side and sat down in the empty seat next to her. She looked up and smiled, putting a hand on his, "You have to hear what Sam's been telling me about what they're developing in R&D." she said excitedly, "We had a similar ideas over the pond; they're trialling sunspot energy conservation, not to mention rabid cell-regeneration and manufacturing new materials that stabilise an organism's body temp without the use of electricity."

"Sounds impressive." Jack admitted, "But aren't you guys supposed to be mainly dealing with incarceration? When do you have time for research and development?" He asked. Rose pushed her hot mug of tea in his direction; he took it in his cold hands gratefully taking a quick sip.

"Well, in '_incarcerating'_ our residents we've come across many problems because of the varied, behaviours and stages of evolution involved, plus the environments have to be incredibly detailed for them to thrive here – this has meant we couldn't wait for _Torchwood_ to get around to solving our problems for us." Cal explained, "And to be perfectly honest with you they have enough on their plate without having to worry about creatures out of sight and out of mind."

"They forget you're down here until they need you" Rose muttered.

"It's easy to get lost in a big organisation." Jack agreed. "I hope you have better things to say about Torchwood three, then you do the main division."

"At least you keep in touch…even when you don't need something." Cal smiled. "But, that day isn't today. How long left?" he asked looking at Rose.

She glanced at her watch, and stood up "About twenty minutes. Time really gets away from you down here, we need to get a wriggle on." She tugged Jack up beside her "_Come on you_, have you got that code ready?"

Jack quickly swallowed the rest of the tea, he knew how cold it was outside, "Hope so." He teased as he took her arm and followed after Cal's hurried steps out of the room and down the corridor. "_Even if we can_ get them out, how are we going to get them down here?"

Rose smirked at him out of the corner of her eye, "I'll let Cal fill you in on that. It's a _good one_." She promised trying to keep up with Cal.

* * *

They stood on the surface, Jack, Rose and Cal looking at the field before them. Jack frowned, "well are you gonna do something soon? We've only got fifteen minutes before the field drains the energy cells…and I don't want to be just standing here if that happens."

"Patience grasshopper." Rose giggled, turning to look at Cal expectantly.

"Show time." He lifted up his watch and gave the order.

The ground shook and Jack moved to stand behind Rose, holding an arm tightly around her waist, "_Rosie_?" he asked doubtfully as the area around them started to sink into the Earth.

"S'all part of the plan." She assured, "Keep watching." She added placing a hand over his at her waist. Jack noticed Cal grinning at him winningly and glared at him. Suddenly they stopped sinking slowly and the pace increased and they flew downwards with the pterodactyls beside them.

The feeling of gravity acting on their bodies, pushing at them made them feel light as air with their hair blowing up into their faces and when Rose began laughing Jack quickly joined her, enjoying the rush. When they reached the bottom Jack realised they were in one of the enclosures, they'd come down through the roof. He whistled, "Wow. That was _almost_ worth being tricked into thinking we were falling through the Earth." Jack said dryly as he gave Rose a squeeze and let her go, "Can you imagine what I would have had to tell the Doctor?" he shook his head, "You know, he would have taken me off to some volcano and dropped me in for losing you, right?"

"He would not." Rose protested distractedly still getting used to the fact the ground felt solid beneath her feet, "He's fond of you now. He was only teasing about the volcano when he said it anyway."

Jack gave her a sideways look, "and the air lock?" he asked while Cal shook his head at them.

Rose pursed her lips, "Well…he may have meant _that_ one, but that was the _one time…_and you had been getting in his face all day. I think super-gluing silver stars on his leather jacket pushed him over the edge." She smiled and looked away, "I'll admit I was a _little_ surprised when I saw you at breakfast the next day."

Jack gaped at her before leaping after her as she ran to hide behind Cal, "And you _Rose Tyler_ don't sound abit sorry."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She giggled

"Come on guys, _truce_. We need to focus on the _dinosaurs_. Then you can play your little game of chasey." Cal chastised trying to look serious as he fought the smile trying to form on his face.

Rose threw an arm over Cal's shoulder; holding out her hand to Jack, "Truce?"

Jack narrowed his eyes, taking her hand and shaking it. "Truce. But once the dinosaurs are squared away _all bets are off_."

"Fine." Rose said sticking her tongue out at him and pulling her hand back, "Shouldn't you be we working out whether your code's gonna cut it." She asked pointedly.

Jack stalked off to see whether the code was operative, holding the panel before him. Cal sighed, "_You two_…a part of me's glad that you guys aren't moving in." Rose pouted. "But, the other part, the _bigger_ part's gonna miss you guys and all the excitement you bring with you. Everyone here's a bit stressed and keeps to themselves, so in comparison you're quite bright and bubbly."

Rose patted his arm, "Why thank you Cal, if you're ever in an emergency…"

Cal smirked and rolled his eyes, "What? Big bad Rose Tyler to the rescue?"

"Definitely."

"Hey, Don't knock our Rosie. She's great in a crisis." Jack mumbled wandering back toward them as he tapped away at the panel. "I'm ready on this end, do you reckon we could raise the roof back until we've got about a fifty metre gap for the pterodactyls? Then I can disintegrate a wall and hopefully the damn things will be anxious to get out and we can rise out of here…to safety."

Rose fought a smile, "That sounded almost speech like. Well I'm ready if you guys are." She rolled her eyes, "I can only imagine what the Doctor's up to…and I have such a good imagination it makes me apprehensive, so lets just go."

Cal gave the order and they rose until the gap was as Jack had specified, he released a wall of the field and they all held their breath. The dinosaurs had been restless and now given an option at escape were only too happy to take it; they took flight into the cavernous enclosure. Jack and Rose whooped; exhilarated by the rush of wings and cries of joy that came from the prehistoric birds.

As the last one flew out, Rose turned to Jack "What about that one?" she asked pointing to the floor of the field were the prone form of 'the one that didn't make it' lay.

Jack frowned and blew out a puff of air, "Could you guys use a dead pterodactyl? Perhaps you could stuff it and scare the locals?" he suggested looking at Cal.

Cal raised his eyebrows as he gave the order to raise them back to the surface, "Well, if nothing else…we have a lot of residents that would consider that a tasty meal."

Jack laughed and Rose's mouth fell open before snapping shut, "_Caleb Isaac_ how can a man who talks into his watch be so cold? How can you talk about feeding a dead dinosaur to one of your other creatures?"

Jack slung an arm around Rose as they rocketed towards the surface, "And how should a man who talks into his watch speak exactly?" Jack asked quizzically, looking very amused.

"Well, apparently I should be more sensitive about death." Cal quipped.

Rose scowled at them, "The poor thing deserves some respect-"

"That _poor thing_…" Jack lectured as they reached the surface and came to a halt, "could have been one of the _poor things_ that carved up one of twelve people found down by the river last night."

"It's in their nature. This isn't their world anymore-"

"_Exactly_, they don't fit." Jack interrupted.

They three of them walked back to the waiting helicopter, the seams of the grassy field matching perfectly- leaving no trace of its function. Rose leaned closer to Jack, "Says the man from the _fiftieth_ century living in the twenty-first." She whispered meaningfully.

"Hey, I have over a hundred years on you. Haven't you ever heard the saying _Listen to your elders_?" Jack responded quickly.

"Yeah, the Doctor tries it on all the time…_and yet I_ was the one who got the two of you-" Rose argued.

"Yeh, yeh, yeh you've had to get us out of a couple of _tight spots_. I know. _I was there_."

"Could you two give it a rest for a moment. I'd like to be able to get a goodbye in before you take off." Cal interrupted placing a hand each on their shoulders to get their attention. They had reached the helicopter.

Rose and Jack spun around looking sheepish, "Sorry." They muttered together.

* * *

There Chapter 8 done and done...I like the next chapter better but oh well. This is just where you're up to.

Hmmm...I've been getting into Angel lately. _Don't_ LIKE Angel (the character) but the show kind of rocks...love Cordelia - she has to put up with _so much_ being the only girl in the group (well until Fred) _and the visions_ poor thing. Gotta love having a TV-Show Marathon.

Of course that's neither here nor there and has nothing to do with this fic, just thought I'd mention it....I think I'm tired...or something.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you BananaDaiquiri for being a consistent reviewer - I love reviews :)

Also OMG My Library's On Fire I'm glad someone spotted my little slip up in chapter 5 (I kind of forgot Ianto's name and had a gap filler...as you can see) - I'm glad _someone's_ paying attention.

**1 review** for the last chapter...but I'm posting this anyway because that's just the kind of nice person I am.

I don't own Doctor Who or a flash light.

* * *

_Rose and Jack spun around looking sheepish, "Sorry." They muttered together._

_

* * *

_

Rose glanced at Jack and then moved over to Cal, giving him a hug, "It was very nice to meet you." She said stepping back "I hope we see you again."

Cal beamed at her and accepted the hand Jack was holding out and shaking it, "It was very nice to meet you Rose Tyler, and it was good to see you again Jack."

Jack smirked as he pulled back his hand, "Always an after thought around the mysterious and alluring Rose Tyler." He said sadly shaking his head. Rose elbowed him in the side and Jack mockingly fell to his knees "Felled in one swoop, the great Captain Jack Harkness."

"Is that what you want it to say on your tomb stone?" Rose queried with a grin.

"More like: here lies Capt'n Jack Harkness crusader of weevils." Cal retorted.

Rose spoke over Jack's protesting noises, "Someone _must_ show me a bloody weevil and soon." She said stubbornly "You _all_ keep going on about them. I feel left out." She pouted.

Jack got off the ground, his eyes twinkling, "Honey, when I get you home the first thing I'll show you is a weevil, okay? We've got a couple in the back, you know for emergencies."

"Emergencies? What? You get them to run a generator for in you in a blackout?" Cal asked sarcastically.

"Running on wheels like hamsters." Rose added. Jack and Cal laughed at the mental picture in their heads while she rolled her eyes. She pulled her phone out and turned it on again, waiting for it to work out whether she had any missed calls or messages waiting for her. It beeped, "Oh…Mickey called." She muttered. She looked at Jack, "Did you call the team and let them know what was going on?" she asked.

"I called Gwen and Ianto about half an hour ago." He answered.

"And just _assumed_ they'd tell the other two?" Rose asked surprised. She blinked, "_Three_, the other _three_. The Doctor hasn't been able to get in contact with me for… we're lucky he hasn't brought the Tardis here." She sighed, "We need to go. Now. Sorry Cal, it's been lovely." She apologised climbing into pilot-seat of the helicopter.

"It _has_ been lovely. But Rose's right, we don't get back soon the Doctor _will_ swoop in…and it won't be pretty." Jack drawled. He looked at Cal as he walked around to the other side to climb in "He kind of needs her." He explained with a shrug and a grin. Cal shook his head at them for the umpteenth time, standing back as they took off, waving them off.

Jack looked down at the ground, "So, how many hours have you had practise?" he asked delicately as he checked out the controls and made sure no danger lights were blinking.

Rose took one hand off steering the craft to cover Jack's eyes, "Stop checking up on me. I've had over two thousand hours, all right. So calm yourself." She removed her hand from Jack and went back to setting their course for Cardiff. "_You_, sir are a big sook when you're not in control. The Doctor's the same." She sighed.

"S'alright Rose I trust you not to _crush_ us into the ground, where upon we'd probably blow up…_which wouldn't be pleasant_. Then I'd come round and have to collect the pieces of you…and Rose believe me _when someone blows up there are a lot of pieces!_" Jack murmured. He ducked and started laughing as she hit him upside the head.

Circling the airfield one waiting figure was easily recognisable, arms crossed over his trench looking up at them. "Well, someone looks happy to see us." Jack laughed. Rose bit her lip and landed the craft ten metres from where the Doctor stood.

He didn't move as he scrutinised them through the windscreen, Rose gave Jack a sideways glance, "Perhaps we should have called?" she said flicking the rest of the systems off and letting the engine finally die.

Jack patted her knee, "Maybe _you_ should have." He pursed his lips, "Well, _I'm not getting out first_." He added quickly, crossing his arms firmly over his chest.

Rose glared at him pulling off her seatbelt, "Coward." She opened the door and climbed out, carefully avoiding looking directly at the man she was walking towards. She stopped a metre in front of him and crossed her arms, looking at him sternly. "So…you miss me?"

"Maybe." He said not changing his expression. "You were gone a while." He remarked slowly.

Rose smirked and her body relaxed, "Well, we had to make a stop over at that hotel on the way back, you know how I like a man in uniform." She glanced at the helicopter, "You know he's refusing to come out, right?" she rolled her eyes, "I thought about pointing out how suspicious that looks, then thought why bother?" she said gesturing with her hands.

The Doctor looked down at her grimly and Rose grinned, "I was joking about the hotel."

"I _know_ that." He muttered.

"Course you did." She opened her arms, "Do I get a hug?" The Doctor regarded her for a moment before sweeping her into arms, resting his chin on her shoulder and wrapping his arms firmly around her waist.

"_Oooh_." She groaned as he lifted her off the ground a little, "Well, I guess I missed you too." She said hugging him hard.

The Doctor put her down gently and smoothed back some of her hair, "So who's this Cal, then?" he asked casually. Rose giggled and looked behind her to Jack who'd finally left the safety of the helicopter.

Jack hearing the question decided to answer for Rose, "Oh, just this handsome Irishman I know…keeps the rare and the weird from running loose all over Wales. Great guy." He smirked, "Actually those two seemed to get on really well, he took Rosie on a little tour."

Rose gave him an insincere smile, "Gee, thanks Jack."

"I see _you_ haven't lost any of your ability to find an attractive man to trail along behind you." The Doctor muttered.

"Hey!" Rose defended, "Have the two of you forgotten that's how I found Jack." She said giving him a little shove.

"And look how good that's turned out." The Doctor said sarcastically. Rose burst into giggles at Jack's face.

"Oi!" Jack said having a finger at both of them, "I was working a con."

"Yes, how reputable of you to be running a scam in the middle of a war. Rose can really pick 'em."

"Yeh, _she_ can." Rose said sternly glaring at both of them.

* * *

So it's a tiny chapter.... Tell me what you think.

**Next time:** Martha makes a reappearance and she and Rose actually have a short conversation before Jack and the Doctor wander in.


	10. Chapter 10

Alright, since I had **two** wonderful reviews so quick here's an extra chapter - Thanks Lizzle09 and Tessa27 its lovely to know people are still reading (and like it).

I don't own Doctor Who or Wellingtons (Gumboots)...have I already used that one?...well, I'm too lazy to check so lets all just accept that as is.

* * *

Rose wandered down to the lab carrying some boxes of slides, "Jack said you needed these?" she asked Martha who was peering down a microscope.

Martha looked up and smiled, "Thanks, just set them down over there." She indicated some spare bench space. The rest of it was covered with books and papers. "How are you enjoying your first trip to Torchwood three? You're probably used to the chaos since you're travelling with the Doctor."

Rose settled the boxes and climbed onto a stool at the bench, "Yeh, living with the Doctor has its moments." She grinned, "He took me to the zoo once…of course that was the day someone decided to stage a rebellion on Earth of all places and the animals got out." Her dancing eyes met Martha's, "_We_ rode a _zebra_."

"Oh." Martha said looking surprised for a moment before laughing. "I wish we'd got around to the lighter stuff, sounds like fun." She considered that for a moment then looked back down at her microscope "He really missed you."

Rose sighed, "It was a mutual feeling, believe me." She shifted closer, "So you're working on identifying the slime?" she asked curiously.

Martha moved so Rose could look down the microscope, "Yep. We need to know if it's still active."

"Well it did try to attack you." Rose murmured as she studied the slide, "Hmmm…"

"Did you notice something?" Martha asked.

Rose drew back and tucked some hair behind her ear; "I've a bit of experience with foreign organisms fallin' to Earth on the other side, but this doesn't look like any of them." She bit her lip, "Actually it looks a bit like…but that can't be right." She looked back up at Martha with a puzzled expression.

"What?" Martha asked impatiently, she was frustratingly familiar with the Doctor hanging back from revealing everything and was hoping Rose wouldn't be the same.

"This isn't a naturally occurring organism, it can't be." Rose said quickly getting off the stool and beginning to search through the books on the bench. She pushed them around reading titles and rejecting them, she clicked her tongue "Ugh, why can't Jack have _anything organised_. It's like it would kill him or somethin'." She rolled her eyes, "Of course _then he would just get right back up again_." She muttered to herself. Finally she found what she was looking for, "Eureka!"

"Ooh a discovery."

"What's cookin' good lookin'." Two familiar voices called from the doorway, overlapping each other.

Rose spun around on her heels to face the two men, "Oh, here comes trouble and he brought a friend." She started flipping through the book in her hands, "I was just talking about you Jack. Cursing you, but still. Bet your ears were burning."

She moved back to sit on the stool next to Martha. "What's wrong _now_?" she asked settling the book in her lap and giving the boys her full attention.

"Oh _Rose,_ now that's a bit unfair." The Doctor protested.

"Yeah, Rose what did we ever do to you?" Jack put a hand up, "Wait, don't answer that." He said looking sheepish.

Rose rolled her eyes at Martha. "So you're just showing the Doctor _around_, Jack?" Martha asked doubtfully.

The men looked at each other, "Yep. The ole tour." The Doctor answered, walking forward with his hands in his pockets.

Rose narrowed her eyes and turned her focus back to the book, "_Sure_. It's not that you're both bored or anything?" She said dryly. "Missin' the excitement? If you're looking for something to do…have you cleaned up the main room? There was a lot of ash and scales last time I was up there."

"S'alright Mickey's on it." The Doctor said unconcerned as he took a seat next to Rose.

"Oh, so you just left it all for Mickey?" Martha asked wryly. Looking between Jack and the Doctor as they shrugged, "What about Ianto? What's he up to?"

Jack moved forward to lean on the bench, "He's _busy_." He rolled his eyes, "Public relations with Unit need some seeing to or something. _You should have seen the glare he was giving me_. Apparently they traced the interference with their communication signals back to us. Our Mr. Mickey Smith needs to work on his subtly."

"That's right blame poor old Mickey." Rose muttered. The Doctor snatched the book from her hands to see what she was studying so intently. "Oi!" she protested trying to grab it back.

"Since when do _you_ read? This is an anomaly that requires some examination." He grinned cheekily, holding the book out of Rose's reach.

Rose's big brown eyes flew to meet Jack's blue ones, appealingly. Jack sighed and moved forward to swipe the book from the Doctor's hands, he glanced at the pages before him and then passed it to Rose. "Mutated planet genes? Doing a biology crossword or planning to go into floristry?" He enquired.

"Floristry?" Rose grinned, taking the book gratefully "Thank you, Jack." She looked at the Doctor pointedly "You're such a gentlemen, unlike _some_ people."

The Doctor scowled at her, "So, what are you two up to? If you're _leaving me_ to become a florist I'd like some warning."

"We're working on the slime problem." Martha offered. "Rose was just about to enlighten me on something she'd noticed."

Rose shifted the book on her lap, "Those cells you've got under the microscope…" Rose begun looking at Martha, "last year we were working a case on illegal experiments being performed around the country…which _okay_ wasn't exactly new, people like pushing the boundaries. I get it but wow, did we find the jackpot. We discovered these mad-scientist types."

She sighed and groaned, "Ugh, the paper work."

"Don't have paperwork travelling with me." Doctor added.

Rose smirked, "And isn't that just a plus, the mess _you_ make everywhere we go."

"So someone's been creating this slime?" Martha asked slowly "And they sent it here, _lucky us_."

"Or it escaped." Rose nodded.

"How long did it take to develop?" Jack asked looking concerned. "Did what you come into contact with have any side effects? Is it definitely dead or is it gonna come back to bite us on the ass?"

"Well, did you leave Mickey in charge of the clean up of _wall slime_ or did you collect it properly?" Rose asked scornfully. "What we found had no side effects." She made a face, "Well we had a few cases among those who had celiac disease, but they were mild….and no one here has it, right?" she asked looking at Jack, he nodded so she continued "I didn't recognise it when I saw it because, well what we had was more sophisticated. It had a little more form, not all…_drippy_. Our guys told us they had been working on it for about three years, so whoever made this hadn't had enough time to perfect the gene sequence. It became inactive as it dried out-"

"So the flamethrowers would have done a good job of that?" Martha asked.

"Did you see how they were waving them around? We're lucky no one lost an eyebrow." The Doctor observed.

Rose reached over to pat him on the knee, "You were just worried the enormous amounts of hair product you've been using would ignite, and we'd have to find you a wig."

Martha and Jack exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

Rose smiled at the Doctor as his mouth quirked up, "Get back to the slime, Rose." He directed.

She stuck out her tongue but got back on topic anyway, "Well…I guess the only thing I want to add is that I really hope Mickey's not using water to wash the slime off-"

"Because that would re-hydrate the slime creature!" Jack realised, racing out of the room.

"Here we go again." Rose said allowing the Doctor to take her hand and help her off the stool.

* * *

Its interesting going back and reading all this - it seems so long ago...this is about half (?) maybe of what I've already written. Of course this is the last separated chapter from the document...so it may be a week or so til I post any more, coz separating it into chapters sucks.

Oh and btw Angel S1 has nothing on Angel S2 and the beginning of S3 (Cordelia as a princess, classic!).

Hehe, its fun having a Rose who acts a bit Doctorish - knowing all...or most about a little of everything.

**Review and I'll post more sooner**....You know this already has the most reviews for any of my DW stories (Ah, so proud that I stuck to it and wrote a ton more then I ever have - thanks guys for making me want to finish this one).


	11. Chapter 11

Well hello there.....um sorry that I just sort of left this for so long...well at least I'm updating right now so hurray! :)

I do not own Doctor Who or water-wings.

Thank you to all you lovely people who have reviewed, or did the little alerty thing - you are very helpful to my motivation to continue.

I think with this chapter I was trying to give you all very funny mental images (hence the powerhose...oh you'll see).

* * *

**Last Time on DW: **(hehe)

_She stuck out her tongue but got back on topic anyway, "Well…I guess the only thing I want to add is that I really hope Mickey's not using water to wash the slime off-"_

_"Because that would re-hydrate the slime creature!" Jack realised, racing out of the room._

_"Here we go again." Rose said allowing the Doctor to take her hand and help her off the stool._

_

* * *

  
_

They caught up to Jack in the main room trying to wrestle a power-hose from Mickey. Water was going everywhere. Rose sighed and tried not to laugh by burying her face in the Doctor's shoulder, he just shook his head marvelling at the 'stupid apes'. Martha covered her face with both hands. Suddenly water was raining down on them, Rose and Martha shrieked while the Doctor strode purposely over to the tap and turned off the water.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mickey asked angrily, dropping his grip on the hose and wringing out his T-shirt.

Jack ignored him, dropped the hose to the grating and wandered over to inspect the wet slime. The Doctor walked calmly back and gestured to Rose, "Explain." He commanded before shaking his head gently and sending drops of water flying.

Rose glared at the order but turned to face Mickey as she walked backwards to examine the wall with Jack, "You were rehydrating the slime and Jack apparently forgot to use his words." She explained.

"And his head." The Doctor muttered sourly.

"Well, if you guys have it covered I'll go grab us some towels." Martha called over her shoulder as she walked out of the room not wanting to listen to any more arguing.

"What's the damage?" Rose asked Jack.

He glanced up and down the wall and rubbed a hand through his wet hair, "He managed to wet the lower half of the wall." He looked down at himself, "And honestly it wasn't worth getting soaked. Rosie, _look at me_." He gestured to his dripping clothes.

Rose studied him from top to toe and didn't think as she uttered, "But you look good though." Her eyes went wide and she shut them for a moment, when she opened them Jack's expression made her blush. "Oh, _you know what I mean_." She said dismissively, trying to move past it.

"I don't think I do, _sweetheart_." Jack said grinning dashingly at her, "Care to expand on that?" he asked running a hand through his wet hair.

"No." Rose said slowly and surely. She looked over Jack's shoulder and her eyes widened in surprise, "But I think we should move…_now!_" She grabbed his arm and began pulling him away from the wall as the Doctor walked closer to the wall a very determined look in his eyes.

Jack looked over his shoulder as he let Rose drag him away. The Doctor had the flamethrower. "_Oh boy_." He muttered. Stopping at a safe distance he looked at Rose, "I thought I locked _that_ cupboard."

Rose drew her eyebrows together and looked at him exasperated, "_Screwdriver,_ remember?" she sighed, "No door is safe. I really need someone to show me how to get a deadlock seal…" she trailed off. "…Be nice to _Doctor-proof_ my cupboards, he gets into _everything_!" She whispered furiously.

"Right, _this ends now_." The Doctor called out to the slime "I've sacrificed enough time to this place. I do _not_ work here." He blasted the flamethrower at the wall; flames licked hungrily at the slime. Jack and Rose squinted at the intensity of heat and light that rippled over to them, Rose sheltered under Jack's arm.

* * *

Eventually the roar of the flames stopped and it was silent. Rose peeked out and took in the situation; well Mickey was under the desk again but at least the slime looked very toasted. Jack's eyes were a little bugged out. "_There,_ that takes care of _that_." The Doctor said with finality, throwing the flamethrower to the ground. "_Come on Rose_, time to go." He called impatiently. "If we stay here too long they're gonna make us sign something."

Rose frowned, "_Doctor_, we can't just leave. It's…Jack, it's not-"

"Not what? We. Don't. Stick. Around. _They'll be fine_." He lectured.

Rose turned under Jack's arm and they exchanged a look. Jack cleared his throat, "Um, Doc…we still have the restrained dinosaurs in the back there." He stroked Rose's arm, "Hey, I'll _free_ one if I have to." He whispered to reassure her.

Rose rested her head on his shoulder and sighed, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

* * *

Martha tracked down Rose, Jack, Mickey and the Doctor arguing in Jack's office – well more accurately the Doctor and Jack arguing while Rose tried to placate them both and Mickey rolled his eyes. She handed a towel each to Rose and Mickey and threw the other two towels haphazardly, she mumbled something about collecting more slime samples and left them to it.

* * *

Sometime later Rose and Mickey stood outside waiting for Jack –who was coordinating the airlifting of the pterodactyls out of T3 by Cal's team. In fact, Cal had found it quite hilarious that they'd forgotten that they had a couple of _dinosaurs_ they still needed to get rid of. Mickey glanced at Rose, "We could…" his voice faded off as he reconsidered.

"Make a run for it? Because he can't leave if he can't find me?" Rose finished for him, she chuckled dryly, "_Or_ jack offered to lock him in a morgue draw. I was actually kind of touched that he offered." She smiled.

Mickey shifted his weight from foot to foot, "He'd catch up with us anyway." He admitted. Suddenly, he smirked "But _the draw_ sounds like a good idea."

"Doesn't it just?" Jack drawled. He came to stand between then, holding up his mobile "Cal says they'll be here in forty minutes, it's a slow day. So who wants to get a coffee? My treat."

* * *

hmmm...thought it'd be nice if Rose, Mickey and Jack had some time to just be - so that's the next chapter. Oh poor Mick hiding under the desk! Can't you just picture it? Although I may be drawing on more of a Mickey S1 then later when he has some spine and is into the whole action hero thing....although the episode where Rose, Jack and the Doctor return to Cardiff to refuel the Tardis and then have to catch Margaret and Mickey's completely hopeless...well I love that. So there.

Oh, and my other stories....well it may be a little while til I can continue them (this one's easy as I'm way ahead of the posting but the others have to be written or are only half written -ie 'Days like this')...still lovely to receive reviews tho.


	12. Chapter 12

I don't own DW, and that's as straight forward as I can make it.

_ *nervous laugh*_...I wonder if anybody still cares that I'm updating after so long...

Would have done _sooner_ but uh...unfortunately the _large_ space Doctor Who used to take up in my life has been shanghaied by _Merlin _(**Arteme** knows what I'm talking about.)...I know, I'm sorry too. But it's really good this series...**OR** this could just be one of the stages of grief (denial)...No NO I'm PRETTY sure Merlin's fantastic. Watch it, I dare you.

* * *

**Last time on Doctor Who:** (OMG, I'm so sorry I left this for MONTHS!)

_Mickey shifted his weight from foot to foot, "He'd catch up with us anyway." He admitted. Suddenly, he smirked "But __the draw__ sounds like a good idea."_

_"Doesn't it just?" Jack drawled. He came to stand between then, holding up his mobile "Cal says they'll be here in forty minutes, it's a slow day. So who wants to get a coffee? My treat."_

* * *

"_That's right_ take advantage. I noticed you ordered half the menu." Jack said giving Rose a wry smile.

They'd taken a quick walk to a diner nearby and been in time to join the breakfast rush; the aroma of pancakes, toast and croissants had enveloped them as soon as they'd stepped in. They'd chosen a booth in the back – with a great view of the river – Rose seated near the window, Jack beside her and Mickey sitting across from the two of them.

Rose had borrowed one of Jack's shirts to wear over her purple singlet (as her T-shirt by that time had a little slime, a little ash and was a little damp) – she wasn't game enough to go back to the Tardis to grab something else, it would be just like the Doctor to take off – she'd also put her hair up into a pony tail to keep it out of her face.

Mickey had changed his red T-shirt to a green one; using one of the spares he'd quickly learnt to keep around when working at Torchwood.

Jack too had had little problem selecting something dry and clean from his office; Rose had talked him into wearing a black and white Rolling Stones T-shirt he hadn't known he'd even owned under a navy blue military style coat.

"Hey, _you_ offered to pay." She replied cheekily, "Not too smart of you to take us out after a mornin' like that at _breakfast time_."

"Yeah, you _owe me_ after trying to tackle me for the hose." Mickey scowled, "Not to mention makin' _me_ clean it up when it was _your_ fault. I am not your _bleedin'_ cleaning woman."

"_Yeh_, stop pickin' on Mickey just coz he's the new guy." Rose said choosing a side with a glare at Jack.

"Okay, okay, I surrender." Jack laughed holding up both hands to stop them. He looked at them out of the corner of his eye, "I…_may_ have been a _little bit_…unfair." He admitted with a mock-sober expression. Rose gave him a little shove and Mickey kicked him under the table. "_Ow_." He exclaimed with a pout. "I surrendered and admitted I was wrong what more do you people want from me?"

Rose ran her tongue over her teeth looking at Mickey, "He's right, what _do_ we want?"

Mickey got a thoughtful expression trying to think of something, Jack sat up a little straighter. "Hey, hey, hey. _Wait a minute_ I'm not askin' for a list of demands here. I do not negotiate with my frienemies." He shook his head a little regretfully, "Sorry, that's just my policy."

"'_Frienemies'_?" Rose giggled.

"Could you get any cheesier?" Mickey asked, rolling his eyes.

A waitress arrived at their table carrying their sizable order, all three leapt in to help her set it down and she gave them a grateful smile as she put down the bill and walked back behind the counter. Rose had ordered for all of them; she'd chosen: six slices of toast –with jam, marmalade, and peanut-butter to choose from, six buttermilk pancakes – with butter and maple syrup, three bowls of porridge –with winter berries and honey, a plate of cheese croissants, black coffee (for jack), a cappuccino (for Mickey) and a pot of tea (for her, the Doctor had got her addicted).

"_Rose_." Jack scolded looking at everything on the table.

"Hey, we can do this. We just have to _work together_." She assured confidently, starting to cut her pancakes into bite-sized portions.

Mickey's stomach growled. "Hey, I'm with Rose on this one. I feel like I haven't eaten in _weeks_." He dived in taking a big gulp of his cappuccino and a handful of toast.

Jack sipped some coffee and shrugged, "I'll admit that porridge looks _pretty_ good, how'd you know I was craving that." He smiled, sliding the bowl closer to himself and picking up a spoon.

"I can't help it you're _predictable_, Captain." Rose claimed through a mouthful of pancake. She reached over and grabbed some toast before Mickey could scoff it all, liberally spreading jam on it before taking a big bite. "Mmmm…"

They ate in happy silence for a few minutes. Jack finished off his coffee and poured Rose a cup of tea, making it the way she liked it. She nodded in thanks. Mickey finished off the toast and started in on the croissants. Rose finished her pancakes and began on another plate, sliding more porridge towards Jack who happily started on a second bowl.

Rose's phone rang once she'd finished her second plate, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the id. "Guess who?" she asked Jack and Mickey with a grin. They shook their heads, pretending to look puzzled. She flipped it open, "Hello." She greeted cheerfully.

"Well _someone_ sounds happier, what's got into you, then?" The Doctor asked.

"A good breakfast." She replied dryly.

"It's always food with you."

"I'm sorry that you find me needing proper meals _distasteful_."

"Not distasteful just…_amusing_." The Doctor corrected.

"Are you calling for any _particular_ reason?" She asked, stealing some berries from Jack's porridge. He was too slow to stop her and gave her a brooding look, shielding his bowl from any more attacks. Rose's tongue peeped out the corner of her mouth as she grinned.

"I was bored."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Okay…" She said slowly. She took a sip of tea, "still trying to work out how that's _my_ problem."

The Doctor made a choking sound, "Well, _excuse me_. I'm _so_ sorry to bother you. I'll just let you get on with it-"

Rose laughed, "_Wait_. Wait. I'm sorry, please don't hang up." Mickey made an exaggerated pouty face at her from across the table, Jack chuckled and Rose bit her lip holding back a smile.

"Fine." The Doctor said haughtily. "I was just wandering where you were. Presently I am _standing_ exactly were you should be."

"_Should be_?" Rose repeated. "Well I'm not sure I'm _supposed_ to be standing anywhere." She paused so he could absorb that, "_Presently_ I'm having a lovely breakfast with Mick and Jack." She made a face "It's been wonderful watching Mickey inhale toast, it's been _too long_." Mickey stuck his tongue out.

"So, you're off sharing a meal with your mates while I twiddle my thumbs?" He asked disbelievingly.

"That _sounds_ about right. But you don't _have_ to twiddle your thumbs, I'm sure Martha could use some help." Rose suggested.

Jack snatched the Phone from Rose's hand, "Listen Doc, we'll be back soon. We have to come back to help load up the dinosaurs. So, could we continue our breakfast in peace, please?" Rose took the opportunity to drink some more tea and start eating some porridge before it got too cold, savouring the sweet berries.

Jack listened for a moment and pursed his lips, "I'm not telling you where we are." He listened. "If you trace this call- Doctor, _don't make me take out the sim card_." He threatened. He listened. "Because we're having a nice breakfast, and you have a habit of…uh-"

"Bringing _chaos_ down on those around you." Mickey quipped, pouring his own cup of tea. Rose kicked him under the table and motioned for him to shut up.

Jack put his hand over the speaker and waved at Mickey to be quiet, "We'll see you when we get back- Yes, we'll be back in twenty. Goodbye." He hung up, turned the phone over, pulled off the back and pulled out the sim card. He put the phone back together and handed it back to Rose, "I don't trust him." He said smiling grimly.

She sighed then started giggling, soon they were all laughing. Their lives were perfectly ridiculous.

* * *

I really adore writing fluff...

*Sigh* now if I could finish this story instead of running through imaginary Merlic fic situations in my head that would be GOOD.

Thanks for waiting, or coming back, or reading it for the first time....hmmm, I might put up another chapter just because I've been so neglectful - if I can find it...But I can, I know I can!


	13. Chapter 13

Hello, Again!

Alright, just realised I was looking at the _publish_ date in horror and not the _update_ date...SO apparently it's only been like a month - but what the hell, I like this story so have an extra chapter on the house.

I don't own DW or a moped. Is that how you spell it coz it looks wrong....really wrong, so I'm going to stop looking at it.

_Come on guys_ you can remember what happened _last_ chapter - it was but a moment ago...and I'm lazy so I can't be bothered cutting and pasting.

* * *

Rose walked between Jack and Mickey while Jack struggled to put her sim card back in while they walked. They'd finished their breakfast without any more interruptions, with almost the entire meal polished off. She looked at her watch; they had about ten minutes to get back – plenty of time. She stopped walking. Jack and Mickey walked another couple of steps before stopping and turning to look at her. "_Rose_?" Jack asked looking up from her phone.

She met his gaze steadily and then looked away, "We get back, we do the hand off with the dinosaurs and the Doctor and I _leave_." She breathed out slowly. "I'm not going to see either of you for a couple of months…a year? I'm not sure I'm alright with that." She frowned.

Jack and Mickey walked back to her, Jack held out a hand. "Do you want to stay?" he asked sceptically. Mickey raised his eyebrows looking between them.

Rose took his hand and shook her head, "He'd never agree to that, he can't-"

"It's not all about him, Rose." Jack interrupted seriously.

She studied his face for a moment, "I don't want to lose anyone else." She confessed.

"Would you consider coming with us?" she asked carefully. Mickey's mouth dropped and his eyes widened as he noticed Jack thinking it over.

"_Jack_! You can't. What about Cardiff? Gwen?…Ianto?" Mickey protested finally finding his voice.

Jack turned his serious gaze to Mickey, "It'd all still be here when I got back." He pocketed Rose's phone and used his left hand to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. Rose held her breath. "If you need me. I'm there." He promised holding her gaze.

Rose released her breath, "I need you." She murmured, pulling him into a tight hug. "Oh, Jack." She smiled into his shoulder, she pulled back to look him in the eyes "The Doctor's going to-"

"_Lose it_." Mickey supplied. "Stamp his foot? Throw something? Trash the console room? Refuse to go along with it?" he shook his head. "I can't _believe_ this! You're just going to abandon the team? Run off for the stars with Rose and the Doctor? Who the hell's going to keep Cardiff safe? We can barely handle what we have to deal with when we're _all_ working…what's it gonna be like with our one indestructible fearless leader swans off coz he got a better _offer_?! He ranted angrily.

"Mickey, it's a time machine-" Rose started, trying to calm him down.

"I _bloody_ well know that! But _since when_ has the Doctor been good at accurately landing anywhere? Has he got _better_ with age? Because he _seems_ like the same guy who tried to take us on a visit home and landed us in 1356…in a _swamp_!" Mickey objected. Jack put a hand on Mickey's shoulder and he shrugged it off.

Jack took a deep breath to calm himself, and ushered Mickey and Rose into a nearby alley. "_Look here Mickey_, I understand _my_ responsibilities better then _anyone_." He disputed, scowling. "If I want to leave I'm going to. Not you. Not anyone can tell me that they know better."

Rose forced herself between the men, placing a palm on both their chests. "Look, I didn't meant to-"

"You _never_ do Rose. You just _act_ without thinking." Mickey said scornfully.

Jack took a quick step forward and Rose spun, placing both palms on his chest to stop him. "Jack." She said getting his attention after a long moment. "Mickey has a right to an opinion, and he's right I do act without thinking sometimes." She sighed. "And he's bared the brunt of it." She admitted softly. "It was a stupid idea, we should just go." Rose indicated to the street with her head.

No one moved. The heavy silence was broken by a ring-tone version of 'The Pretender'. Rose raised an eyebrow, "_You've got to be kidding me_. I _knew_ it was taking you an awfully long time to fix my phone." She made a sound in the back of her throat. "_What_ did I say about changing my ring-tone?" she chastised Jack forgetting to be apprehensive.

Jack's scowl melted away and he looked sheepishly down at her, "You _used_ to love it." He dug out the phone and handed it to her.

"No. _You're_ the one who thought it was hilarious." She looked at the phone in her hand, "We'd be hiding from the police and The Ramones start playing coz the Doctor's trying to find out where you'd dragged me off to." She sighed, "I don't wanna answer it. What do I say? 'I invited Jack to come with us, but Mickey has a problem with it. Could you give us a few'?" Jack shrugged at her.

"Well, if you _don't_ answer he's gonna ring back…or worse _show up_." Mickey reminded her.

The ringing stopped and they all looked at the phone, Mickey over Rose's shoulder. "Well that solves that-" Jack started before being cut off by the Doctor calling back.

Rose made a face, flipped it open and brought the phone her ear, "_Doctor_." She answered.

"No Rose. That would be me." The Doctor corrected. "Are you screening your calls now?"

"Uh, hang on…I'll put you on speakerphone." She stammered, pressing the button and holding the phone out in front of her. "Alright, go for it."

"I asked you if you were screening your calls." The Doctor repeated. They all grimaced but stayed quiet. "Alright, lets try an easier question. Where are you? The chopper is five minutes away and the dinosaurs need to be moved closer to the pick up point."

"We'll leave right now." Rose assured.

"As opposed to standing in an alley way between a drycleaner and a florist?" The Doctor asked.

Rose, Jack and Mickey frowned, "Excuse me?" Jack asked suspiciously. Rose handed the phone to Jack, moving away and started walking back towards the street; Mickey and Jack shared a look.

"Cal rang to say he'd be there shortly. He couldn't get in touch with you because your phone's off, apparently." The Doctor clarified.

"Not that." Jack muttered, "I understand _that_ part."

"_Oi_, you there in the pinstripes." Rose called out, "Stalking is illegal." Mickey and Jack turned and saw Rose dragging the Doctor into the alley towards them. "Look what I found wandering the streets." She looked back at the Doctor, "I knew you having your own phone would be trouble."

Jack sighed and hung up the phone, he ran a tired hand through his hair. "Just missed us to much to wait?" he asked dryly.

The Doctor glanced at Rose, "Some of you more then others." Rose bit back a grin. He placed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, "Any particular reason the _three of you_ decided to loiter in an alley way? I thought you all were as anxious as me to get this day over with…guess I was wrong, as there's time for both breakfast _and_ dawdling."

Rose rolled her eyes, "We needed to talk about somethin' out of hearing of the general public."

The Doctor stared at her, his eyes sweeping her face. "Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly, reaching out a hand unconsciously for hers. Rose didn't look away, no use in hiding from him. The Doctor's face set in hard lines and he turned to the two men, he looked from Jack to Mickey. "Right, who was it? Which one of you said something to upset her?" he asked calmly. "Personally, my money's on Mickey."

Jack took a deep breath while Mickey threw up his hands in disbelief; Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand. "These are _our_ friends, that's not how you speak to friends." She reprimanded gently.

"I thought you said they were family, well this is how I. Treat. _Family_." He retorted. Jack and Rose shared a look, he gave a tiny shake off his head and she nodded.

Mickey found his voice suddenly, "She wants to take Jack with you." He blurted abruptly. All eyes focused on Mickey in surprise; slowly the Doctor turned to Rose and raised an eyebrow.

"We're adopting strays again." He smiled insincerely, "_Since when_?"

* * *

Review if you still care. I hope you do.


	14. Chapter 14

Yay! You still care...Thanks - **Lizzle09**, **BananaDaiquiri** and **Evilish Cookie **for reviewing...I will eventually finish this story, one would hope. There's a good 12,000 words between the end of this chapter and the last word I've currently written (I've managed to get them to the TARDIS...but they haven't left yet)...so I shouldn't be abandoning this story anytime soon - that would be mean, and I wouldn't like to think of myself as a quitter.

I don't own Doctor Who or a hockey stick.

Hands up everyone excited for the christmas special......**Yes**! Me too! **Yay Rose is back** (albiet a Before-she-met-the-Doctor Rose, but still - _I'll Take it!_). I think it'll probably make me cry - I don't WANT number 11 :( He looks funny and young and all gothy or hungover and his 'companion' *shakes head* I think I'm going to have to give it up and bury my head in my DW box sets - let S1 and S2 cheer me up.

For goodness sake BBC give Rose her own show with 10.5, Jackie and Pete - I'd watch it.

This chapter begins with the Doctor ranting, from Cal's point of view - obviously trying to point out why Jack's a rubbish traveling companion.

* * *

"…_Then_ there was the time we got caught in that wind tunnel."

"Not my fault!" a familiar voice protested.

"Doctor, we weren't even in that tree for an hour." Said a tired, familiar female voice.

"Oh, thank god we're back. If I had to listen to another minute of this I was gonna try out that move Matt taught me. You remember Rose, Whaaaa Ya!" said a new voice.

There was yell followed by the sound of a body hitting the concrete.

"_Jack_!" Said the same familiar female voice, sounding reproachful.

"Oh, _come on_. He made it too easy." Jack drawled as he walked around the corner into Cal's line of sight, followed by Rose, and two men he'd never seen before. One of them appeared to be ranting and counting off on his fingers, the other was limping slightly. "Cal!" Jack greeted, reaching out to shake his hand. "Long time no see…what's it been a couple of hours?"

"Something like that." Cal agreed. Rose caught up to Jack and Cal reached forward, picked up her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it, "The _alluring and mysterious_ Rose Tyler." He murmured as she giggled, pulling her hand back before the Doctor could see. "New outfit I see."

"Good to see you too, Cal." She put a hand on Mickey's shoulder, "This is Mickey Smith, he's Jack go-to communication expert." She hid a smirk looking down, "Please take no notice of the fact he's scraped his knee. That's Jack's fault."

"Expert?" The Doctor muttered.

"It's nice to meet you." Mickey nodded.

Jack mirrored Rose's move and placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, "This is the Doctor, please take no notice of the fact he's in a stroppy mood. That's normal. Let's go get the critters, I'm assuming you parked on the roof?"

They started inside, "I believe someone said something about a _wind tunnel_?" Cal asked.

Rose groaned and Mickey took off like a shot mumbling something about needing to check something. The Doctor opened his mouth and Jack clamped a hand over it. "Don't ask." He warned, sighing, "Just _don't_ ask."

Rose linked her arm with the Doctor's, "Come on then, our little beasties haven't been fed in a while and they'll be starving- the sooner they're home the better." She tugged him ahead of the other two men, following after Mickey.

* * *

Rose stood next to the Doctor who was leaning against the wall, his arm resting casually around her; they were watching the pterodactyls get loaded up. She glanced up suddenly, frowning "You've never mentioned if we're living alone."

The Doctor glanced down at her amused, "_Alone_? What? You think that your mum might have stowed away or something? Tell you what, I walk into the wardrobe room and she jumps out from a rack of clothes-"

"No." She turned under his arm, placing a hand on his chest right above his right heart. "Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. Is there _anything_ living in the Tardis _besides_ us?"

He pursed his lips, his brow wrinkled in thought "Well it depends on what you classify as living…are we talking plants? Mould, I've got some mould cultures in-" He stopped as Rose gave him a dirty look. "Can't we talk about this _later_?" he asked slowly.

Rose gave him a dubious look, "Later?"

"Yeah, Jack, you and I will sit down after tea and I'll give you a list, alright?" he replied gazing down into her warm brown eyes.

"Jack?" A smile quirked up one side of her mouth, "Are you saying? _Really_?" He looked enquiringly down at her, pretending to be puzzled and she laughed, "Oh, you're impossible!"

The Doctor ran his fingers through her ponytail, "That's not very original. I've heard that at least a dozen times this week."

"_And_ it's only Monday." Rose added.

"Now, _all_ you have to do is convince his team to let him go and we can get out of _here_." He muttered.

"It's not that bad."

"Says a former Torchwood employee." He gave her a dark look, "_I saw you_ eyeing that flamethrower."

Rose scoffed, "Like you _weren't_ playing action hero an hour ago. At least _you_ got to have a go." She added sullenly turning back to the action. "You guys need any help?" She called out, ignoring the Doctor trying to shush her.

Jack was pushed backwards by a clawed foot; he stumbled and turned to look at the couple, "It's alright Rosie, I don't want you getting scratched…but if the Doctor wants to help…"

"What? _Never mind my safety_?" The Doctor yelled offended.

Cal worked at restricting the movement of the flailing dinosaur, "Little help Jack?" he asked sarcastically, getting Jack's attention back to the task at hand. Two more of Cal's men worked at caging the rest of the cargo, while Cal and Jack struggled with the last one. With a little twisting around and nimble fingers Jack and Cal managed to stow the last one away.

"_Finally_." The Doctor called out, "I was starting to think we'd be here all week." Jack shot him a dirty look and Rose elbowed him and walked towards the boys.

"Will you be leaving straight away or have you got time for a cuppa?" She asked, looking from Cal to the men securing the dinosaurs and preparing for take off. The Doctor moved behind her, like a shadow and rested his hands on her shoulders.

Jack tilted his head at Cal, "We've got chocolate biscuits…" he tempted.

Cal smirked, "How can I resist that, then? 'Course we can spare a few minutes." He looked behind him. "Miles you stay and prepare the craft…since you're the one who lost that mammoth last Wednesday." He turned to Rose and the Doctor, "A bloody mammoth wandering the hillside for three hours! It was a bugger to catch, very wily."

Rose bit back a smile, "I can only imagine." She gasped suddenly and pointed excitedly at Jack, "Hey! You said you'd show me a weevil. What happened to that?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Jack, "At this rate we're _never_ going to get out of here." He made a move along gesture, "Come on then. Tea first, then you can show us your menagerie _Jackie boy_." Jack, Cal and Trent (the other man working for Cal) had begun to walk towards the stairwell; Jack stopped and made a gesture of his own before following the other men. Rose giggled and dragged the Doctor after them.

* * *

Figured I better post some Who while I was in a posting mood :)

I love the dynamic between The Doctor, Rose, Jack and Mickey - It's very fun to write...especially when they're around other people.


	15. Chapter 15

Okay, well first off I'm sorry its taken me a month to post...that's a bit unacceptable considering I have quite a bit of this written. I even managed an ending of sorts...though there's something wrong with it - so it's still in progress.

I think_ Merlin_'s fogging up my brain...I have so many pages (upwards of 40) of different _Merlin_ story starts because I keep abandoning and starting new ones and that's sort of been my focus - somehow I've decided that I can't write and that _appears_ to be getting in my way. Funny that. But still that's not a good enough excuse, especially because I already had this waiting in the doc manager - but i forgot....so, here I am now. Yay.

Also WOW 30 reviews! I'm very thankful that you guys are continuing with the motivation - because i need it, I'm _horribly_ undisciplined.

Thanks; **KittyKatZorse** , **Lizzle09** , **BananaDaiquiri** and **entelecheia**.

**entelecheia** your review was what finally pushed me to post (the straw that broke the camel's back if you will)....I've been meaning to update for DAYS and just kept forgetting. So thank you. Good timing.

I don't own Doctor Who or any candycanes...as yet.

* * *

**Last chapter:** Cal returned to load up the dinosaurs I- uh _they_ forgot about and Rose and Jack convinced him to come in for a tea and biscuits.

* * *

They settled around Jack's office; Jack sitting in his chair behind his desk, Rose next to him sitting next to the Doctor on a wide chair and Cal sitting on the other side of Jack's desk next to Trent. They each held a mug of hot tea, and bonded over a few anecdotes.

"And then of course I had to spend the next _two hours_ removing the quills…we really lived it up back then." Rose said dryly. She leaned over and swiped a biscuit out of Jack's hand, taking a deliberately large bite.

"Hey, Goldilocks!" Jack yelped, "That was mine." He pouted and reached for another biscuit.

"_Was_ being the operative word." The Doctor smiled as Rose shared her prize with him. He curled an arm around Rose's shoulders and sighed into her hair, "Don't _pretend_ you didn't enjoy Jack having to strip off so you could play '_Doctor'._" he smirked. Rose tilted her head, a slight blush growing on her cheeks and pursed her lips avoiding looking at anyone. "Come on, you even admitted to _liking a man in uniform_ just today."

Rose sighed, trying to fight the smile on her face. "_Must you_ remember _everything_ I say so you can bring it up at the next available inappropriate time?"

"Yes." The Doctor answered simply. Rose giggled, looking at Jack for help.

He shook his head, "Uh huh, I'm not helping you. You stole my biscuit." He said wagging his finger at her.

"I should have let you pick your own quills out." She muttered, sticking her tongue out at him.

"So…" Cal interrupted "I think you were about to tell us how you all met…before you got sidetracked."

"Not, that _that_ story wasn't amusing." Trent added.

"Trent, that's sweet of you but Cal's right, as usual." Rose smirked, she looked at Jack "Oh, where to start."

"The beginning's always a good place." The Doctor murmured into her ear.

Jack leaned forward onto his desk keeping Rose in his line of sight, "Well, Rose was hanging precariously a couple thousand feet in the air above a war zone-"

"_What_? Wait. Back up. What were you doing _thousands_ of feet above the ground?" Cal exclaimed looking from Rose to the Doctor (who seemed to have an answer for everything). "_War_ zone?" He added even more doubtfully, like he'd heard wrong.

Rose leaned forward, resting her head in her hands, "Well…It's kind of hard to explain." She gave Jack a plaintive look for help.

"Hanging from a barrage balloon." The doctor answered dryly. "What _else_ would a teenage girl be doing that high up?" He asked sarcastically.

"Maybe if _someone_ hadn't been chasing _other_ things fallin' out of the sky I wouldn't have _needed_ rescuing." Rose protested, turning her head to give the Doctor a look.

The Doctor glared at Jack. "Well, maybe if _someone_ hadn't been trying to scam us I wouldn't have been chasing something in the centre of L-" Jack flinched.

While Rose sat up quickly and covered the Doctor's mouth, raising her eyebrows. She smiled tightly at Cal and Trent, "_Sorry_, he can get uh…carried…away." She said, the look on her face acknowledging that she wasn't being very convincing.

Cal nodded slightly, knowing that the Doctor had been about to reveal something that apparently he wasn't supposed to hear. "Right." He said slowly, his eyes shifted to Jack "Scam?" he asked hesitantly. Rose gave Jack a sympathetic look and the Doctor a disappointed one and he stopped his muttering from under her hand.

"Well…it was a long time ago. A lifetime ago." Jack tried to explain.

"_Many_ lifetimes ago." The Doctor muttered quietly through Rose's hand.

Rose untangled herself from the Doctor, got up and settled onto Jack's knee, he shifted her to a more comfortable position and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I always knew you were a good guy." She assured confidently. "My own personal knight in shining armour."

Jack gave her a relieved smile and leant his forehead against hers, "At least someone saw me that way…I can die happy now."

Rose giggled, "Again…and again and _again_." She quipped, ignoring the puzzled looks from Cal and Trent. She bopped her head, "Hey! I'm the _only_ one who hasn't died since we all met." She said realizing it suddenly. She saw Cal and Trent's eyebrows meet their hairline, "Ah, well…" she sighed trying to explain, "We're probably gonna say _a lot_ of things that we won't be able to explain. So-"

"Get used to it?" Cal finished curtly.

The Doctor stared at him, "Others _have_ managed before you. You'd be surprised the number of people we run into who have no clue what's going on around them." He took a sip of tea.

Rose wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders and leaned into him, "What are we going to do with him?" She whispered bemused.

"At least he's prettier to look at now." Jack smirked.

Rose gave him a serious look and whispered, "I'm really sorry he did that. Nobody should know anything about you that you don't want them to know." Jack pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"You saw something in me I wasn't sure was there anymore."

"It was always there, you just needed to wake up." She replied honestly. "If your offer still stands…" Rose looked down "The Doctor said it'd be okay."

Jack tilted her face back up, "I'm always gonna be there for you Rosie. Always." He promised.

The Doctor clattered his mug onto the desk and got everyone's attention. "You two have to be going, right?" He asked looking at Cal and Trent. "So I'll give you the condensed version of how we met, I ran into Rose in a basement and we hit it off straight away. We met Jack, well I say _'we'_ I mean Rose met Jack when he saved her from falling to her death. They even had time to for a dance and found their own song _before_ coming to find _me_." The Doctor said standing up abruptly and grabbing one last biscuit; "So I assume dinosaurs wait for no man?" he added gesturing to the door.

Cal and Trent blinked surprised. Rose rolled her eyes to the ceiling and Jack shook his head. "We, are gonna have to _work_ on that." Jack muttered to Rose.

Jack loosened his arms and Rose climbed out of his lap grabbing a tray and stacking some mugs on it, "And he says that in the _politest_ way he knows how." She made a face, "He's _still_ learning patience, unfortunately." She moved around the desk as Cal and Trent stood up, she took the mugs from their hands, placed them on the tray and passed it to the Doctor.

"And what am I supposed to with _these_?" He asked looking down at the tray in his hands as if he had never seen a mug before.

"Go do the washing up." She said waving him away, "If you ask _nicely_ Mickey might help you." She opened the door and pushed him out gently. Turning back to the boys she sighed, "So, _I_ say we eat a few more chocolate biscuits and _then_ you guys can get going." She suggested, raising an eyebrow.

Jack and Cal grinned while Trent just shook his head in disbelief. "_That's_ my girl." Jack said amused. Rose and Jack shared a look, taking each other's measure and then both launched themselves towards the packet of biscuits. Rose gave a cry of triumph holding the packet above her head and danced out of Jack's reach as he tried to edge quickly around his desk.

"Gettin' slooow in your _old age_." Rose taunted as they circled the desk. Rose passed Cal and he grabbed the packet out of her hand, she gaped at him.

"Hey, if you can't beat them join them." He quoted moving away from her, "And as far as I'm concerned you're all nuts…_Kookier then a gaggle of escaped mental patients_." He licked his lips, "But at least now _I_ have the biscuits." He waved them back and forth at Jack and Rose mockingly. They both gave a yell and charged him, Trent sensibly sidestepped out of the way.

The Doctor glared at the crashes and laughter coming from Jack's office, he thrust the tray at a surprised Mickey. "Rose wants _you_ to wash these."

* * *

I wrote this like so long ago that rereading it now...well it actually sounds good...._and_ partially in character if I do say so myself.

I can actually be discerning - which is a lovely feeling. Hurray!

So hope you had a good chapter, I'll post sooner then I did this time. Thanks you for reading.


	16. Chapter 16

I'm in a posty mood right now, so I thought I may as well do this now...before I forget again. It's just short, but better than nothing.

Thank you everyone who's reviewed.

This chapter is pure fluff and if you recognize the movie quote GOOD ON you! That was one of my fav's when I was younger and I guess I was rewatching it around the time I wrote this.

* * *

Rose gave a final hug to Cal and stepped back to shake Trent's hand, "It was great to meet you, and you too Miles. Cal has the remaining biscuits in case you wanted some. I'm sure we'll see each other again." She added looking at Cal. "I'm positive."

"Only fools are positive." He replied quickly.

Rose raised her eyebrows in amusement. "Are you positive?"

"Yes." Cal grinned.

Jack looked between the two of them, "Guys, I'm feeling a bit left out here."

Rose shook her head, "Sorry, inside joke. _Maybe_ you'll take movie night more seriously and find out." She told him, patting him on the arm.

Cal laughed and climbed into the craft beside Trent, "Now you know how I feel."

Jack and Rose watched them take off, waving enthusiastically – trying to out do each other. Jack bumped Rose and put her off so he was the last to get waved at, he gave her a smug look and ran for the stairwell, Rose close behind.

* * *

Martha came into the main room to find Rose clinging onto Jack's back as he tried to tip her off, both of them giggling like mad. She walked up to stand next to Gwen, "Any idea what's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Nope." Gwen answered, giving Martha a bewildered look. "But whatever's going on I haven't seen Jack this happy since…well _ever_." She admitted.

Martha smiled, "I saw something like this when Jack found the Doctor, but this is…"

"More?" Mickey supplied, coming to stand beside them. "_You_ should see the _three_ of them all wound up, now _that's_ scary."

The Doctor looked up from working on something at the computer hub, "That's _enough_ you two, you're making a spectacle of yourselves." He reprimanded half-heartedly – he was secretly pleased that Rose was having fun. He looked at them for a moment and then readjusted his glasses and went back to what he was doing.

Rose tightened her legs around Jack's waist and giggled as Jack practically did the twist trying to shake her off. Finally in amused desperation he lurched over to the couch and lay on his back, on top of her. Rose yelped and giggled into his back trying to get him off because he was squishing her. Jack sat up, sitting with Rose's legs on either side of him, his back to her. "Sweetheart, do you surrender?"

Rose hit him upside the head, "Sure whatever helps you sleep at night, cheater." She replied leaning back on the arm of the couch, exhausted.

"Babe, cheating would have been hitting you against a pole." Jack argued, puffing from the exertion.

"You wouldn't do that." Rose assured.

Jack sighed and leant back against her, "Hey, it was about fifty- fifty if I couldn't get you off."

Rose ran a hand through his short dark hair, "I feel more like myself then I have in forever." She confided.

"Me too." He agreed, contentedly.

She pushed at him, "Now, get off. Don't you have a team to talk to?" He groaned unhappily but got up, reaching a hand down for hers.

"Alright, but you're in charge of making sure the Doctor isn't doing something that I'm gonna have to deal with later." He pulled her to her feet, "Are we clear? I don't wanna come back from hanging out with you two to find he's programmed some…" he waved his hands in the air not being able to come up with something terrible enough.

"Okay, okay." Rose agreed clasping his hands and shaking them like a handshake. "Now, lets get a move on." She said giving him a push and striding over towards the Doctor.

* * *

Thanks for reading :)

I had a little freak out when I read the name Gwen - I was like OH NO! I mixed up my Merlin and my DW and then I was like Ooooh, yeah..._Gwen_! not Guinevere! Duh! Crisis over.


	17. Chapter 17

I don't own Doctor Who: I never would have chosen that new guy to be eleven...or that companion... and I would have offered anything and everything to get David (and Billie) to stay.

Happy New Year guys, I can't wait to see the last ep with ten and the gang - it's sad but exciting - decided I'd wait til I could watch both parts together. Suspense? No thank you, I had enough of that in S4.

* * *

Last time on Doctor Who:

"_Alright, but you're in charge of making sure the Doctor isn't doing something that I'm gonna have to deal with later." He pulled her to her feet, "Are we clear? I don't wanna come back from hanging out with you two to find he's programmed some…" he waved his hands in the air not being able to come up with something terrible enough._

* * *

_  
_

Rose peered over the Doctor's shoulder and frowned, "Why have you opened up an activity window on the network?"

The Doctor looked up at her, patting the seat beside him. "_Something_ about all this is bugging me." He turned back to the monitor tapping away quickly.

Rose sat down next to him, resting an arm on the desk and laying her head on it, watching his hands move over the keyboard. "You mean what attracted the dinosaurs to this particular point?"

The Doctor paused and stared at her, a small smile appearing on his face, "Exactly, Rose. That is…_exactly_ it." He looked at her curiously, "So, you realised it …and just weren't gonna _bother_ mentioning it?" he asked amused.

"I was just seeing how long it took _you_." She grinned cheekily. The Doctor scoffed, gave her a little push, and then he got back to work.

* * *

On the other side of the room Jack stood in front of Gwen, Martha and Mickey (who was itching to see what the Doctor was doing to his equipment). Jack paced back and forth restlessly, Gwen and Martha watching him apprehensively and Mickey not watching him at all.

"Do we get to find out what's got you so wound up, _soon_?" Gwen asked impatiently, "I haven't got all day to watch you pace. If there's no _situation_ I need to be aware of I have to get going."

"Yeh, yeh, I just want to wait for Ianto to get here. Tell you all at once." Jack muttered.

Martha raised a hand in the air, "Would this have something to do with the Doctor?" she asked looking unimpressed.

"Doesn't it _always_." Mickey muttered, "Seriously I can't _count_ the number of times I've been passed over for-" Jack shushed him and cut him off.

Martha sat up straighter, her eyes narrowed. "So what? You're skipping out on us?"

* * *

At the computer hub Rose sat up and covered the Doctors hands with her own to still them. "I think I know where the signal was coming from." He looked at her surprised, Rose took a deep breath. "So, you can _stop_ messing with Mickey's stuff."

She got up and the Doctor's hand shot out to stop her, "_Explain_, please." He asked gently but firmly.

* * *

Ianto walked quickly into the room heading over towards Jack and the rest of the team. "So what did I miss?" he asked looking from Gwen, Martha and Mickey's sour faces to Jack's tired one.

Jack closed his eyes and waved for him to take a seat. He rubbed a tired hand over his eyes, "Look, I had responsibilities before I joined Torchwood." He glanced at Rose and the Doctor talking closely. Looking back at the people before him he sighed, "Family comes first."

"And what are we then?" Gwen asked angrily, standing up.

Martha reached for Gwen's sleeve to tug her back down, "He's not trying to make any of what you've all gone through sound like nothing." She said, trying to be reasonable. Jack gave her a thankful nod.

"Exactly. You guys must know how much you mean to me by now. I love you guys, _even_ Mickey." Jack winked while Mickey gave a small smile and rolled his eyes. "But heading up this team, losing our friends…its been wearing on me." He swallowed, "You guys don't know what I've done or where I'm from."

"And they do?" Ianto asked quietly gesturing to Rose and the Doctor.

Jack nodded slowly, "They have a good idea. They knew me before…" Jack gestured to himself "Before this."

"Before you were superman. Yeah, well I met that you too and you were nothing special." Mickey argued and then looked down at his hands, "You were _happier_…I guess. Is that what you're looking for?"

"I _want_ to go and…"

"Rose needs you." Mickey finished.

* * *

The Doctor studied Rose's face as she hesitated, "_Rose_?" he prompted, moving his hand from her arm to hold her hand and raising an eyebrow.

She sighed and sat back down, "Do you remember that signal from earlier?" she asked quietly. She made a face, "The one I had to talk you out of following."

The Doctor's mouth fell open in surprise and then he shook his head in mock disappointment, "_Rose Tyler_."

She looked at him expectantly, "Yes, Doctor?" Trying to feign rapture.

"We could have saved _so_ much time."

Rose ruffled his hair, "Who are you kidding? We would have spent the day looking for that part for the Tardis and then I'm sure you would have found trouble somewhere…_something_ would have blown up."

The Doctor removed her hand from his head, "Now, that _is_ unfair. Totally unfounded." Rose gave him a look. "Well, fine. But at the very least I would have traced the signal _as well_." Rose smirked and glanced over towards Jack and the team who were heading towards them.

"Looks like he told them. Be nice." She instructed.

"I'm _always_ nice."

"_Sure_ you are." Rose said sarcastically and got up from his side. Jack moved to stand near them, reaching an arm around Rose, she looked up at him concerned. "You alright?" she whispered.

"Fine, Rosie. I'm fine." He assured. He looked to the rest of the group, "And it's all settled. Do you reckon you guys could drop me off within the next two days?"

"Making the drop off time _vague_ on purpose?" The Doctor asked from his seated position.

"He doesn't think you can land in at a more precise time." Mickey muttered.

Rose smirked and hugged Jack, "Ah, it's pick on the Doctor day. Lovely."

"Only comes round once a year…we should make the most of it." Jack murmured. Martha hid a smirk. Ianto and Gwen shared a look.

The Doctor scowled at the four of them, "_Why don't we_ say 9am on the dot tomorrow morning." He suggested indignantly.

Rose worked hard at controlling the look on her face; "Um…are you sure?" she finally gasped out and buried her face in Jack's shirt to muffle her laughter. Her shoulders shook and Jack who was trying to hold onto his own laughter wrapped her tightly in his arms and hid his face in her hair.

"_Rose Tyler_, I can't believe you could _doubt me_. How _many_ times have I saved this world? And you don't think I can't even control _when_ I land?" The Doctor asked, rising to his feet.

"It's more an issue of _where_." Mickey cut in and then had to look away to regain some control over himself and avoid the astonished look Martha had turned to give him. Rose gave a muffled snort and Jack gave a choked laugh. Gwen and Ianto shook their heads, not having experienced the joys of travelling with the Doctor.

Rose peeked out and saw The Doctor scowled at them, lips pressed together tightly, eyes flashing and her laughter died. She pulled back a little from Jack's embrace, carefully avoiding meeting anyone's eyes by keeping her eyes on his chest. "So, Weevils?" she suggested.

Jack grabbed her hand, "_Of course_ the weevils!" He exclaimed and dragged her off to the basement stairs, leaving the rest of the team standing there like stunned mullets. "Good thinking." He murmured when they were out of earshot of the others "I _knew_ I missed you so much for a reason- you're good at escape plans."

Rose laughed following him down the stairs, "Aaw I bet you say that to all the girls, Captain."

* * *

I'm so sorry I kind of forgot about posting...wow, I'm starting to become a broken record, every damn time I say I won't forget...but... Well, it's a new year and I have the time to do this, so I'm just gonna try harder. Thanks for sticking with it. You're all lovely.


	18. Chapter 18

Alrighty guys, currently we're on page 50 of 70...if that gives you any inclination to the length of this ridiculous explosion of my imagination that went for so SO much longer then I meant it too. So, I'm sorry but you guys are gonna have to put up with my stop start approach to posting for some time. Hope it's worth the bother.

Thank you all you shiny people who keep reviewing and alerting this fic, makes a girl feel wanted (and remember that she's keeping nice people waiting unnecessarily).

I don't own Doctor Who or a cowboy hat.

* * *

Last time on Doctor Who:

"I _knew_ I missed you so much for a reason- you're good at escape plans."

Rose laughed following him down the stairs, "Aaw I bet you say that to all the girls, Captain."

* * *

Rose kneeled down and looked closely at the thing behind the bars, "Well this is a little-" the weevil leapt at her banging against the bars and growled. Rose fell back on her butt "disappointing?" She finished sounding doubtful.

Jack chuckled and sat down beside her on the concrete floor, "They're not all bad…just _not great to look at_, and really grumpy when they haven't been feed on time." He glanced at his watch and grimaced, "How'd you like to feed one?"

Rose looked unsure, "If you think I'm getting in a cell with _that thing_…"

"I would _never_ put you in any danger." Jack assured her, he slung an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "You can use the _'feeding stick'_."

She grimaced, "Oh, _classy_. So what is this thing? Just a large pole – probably a converted broom or something – with a shovel end to hold the food?" she asked shrewdly.

Jack helped her to her feet, "Oh ye of little faith."

Rose dusted herself off, and then rested her hands on her hips. "Alright then impress me with your technological advancements for the age old 'feeding the angry critter in a cage' problem." She challenged.

Jack smirked, "You're such a jaded _little thing_ aren't you?" Rose laughed and wacked him on the arm. Jack cried out theatrically and took off at a run further down the hall. "Violence never solves anything!" he called over his shoulder.

She chased him, "Says the man with the laser pistol strapped to his waist."

The reached the end of the hall and Jack effortlessly reached down and picked up a long handled shovel, he swung around and held it before him like a sword. Rose came to a halt in front of him, "Let me guess, the _'feeding stick'_?" she scoffed, breathing hard. She giggled, "You know if we had two…"

Jack used a fingerprint scanner to open a nearby panel and pulled out another one and tossed it to Rose, never taking his eyes off her. "That what you had in mind?"

"En guard." Rose challenged, striking a fighters stance and brandishing her 'weapon' in front of her.

Jack mirrored her, "You think you can take _me_? _The great_ Captain Jack Harkness?" he taunted good-humouredly.

Rose removed a hand from her 'weapon' and gave him the come here gesture, "Bring it on, Captain." She retorted. Her body already humming with adrenaline from the run, she shifted weight between her feet and tried to remember every combat lesson she'd ever had- a friendly game it may have been, but she didn't want to lose. Not to Jack, that was almost as bad as losing to the Doctor.

Jack struck a testing blow towards her leg and she parried it easily, deflecting it wide. He grinned, "Look who's been having lessons." He chuckled happily. Dodging a thrust from Rose and spinning he sighed, "Still, you're no match for me, and my experience."

They circled each other, looking for weak spots. "Now, now Captain. It's hardly fair of you to call it already. _You haven't even struck a blow_." Jack chose that moment to strike a blow towards her shoulder; she dipped her body and swung out at his leg. His strike missed and he tried to dodge hers, she connected with his calf.

"Ow!" he exclaimed in disbelief "_Rosie_!"

She winced and bit her lip, "_Hey_, stop trying to make me feel guilty. You're superman now. My very own Wolverine, sans the claws." Rose argued.

Jack pouted at her, rubbing his leg and noticed she'd put her guard down. His blue eyes sparkled and he lunged forward with his 'weapon'; Rose brought hers up in an arc just in time to deflect the body shot. She scowled at him, "I'm sorry is someone feeling bad at getting beaten by a girl? Want me to go _easy_ on you?" Her brown eyes shone at him, Rose was enjoying this just as much as he was.

"_Don't you dare_." He said sternly. Shaking the shovel a little and testing the weight Jack edged closer. Rose shifted back, watching him closely her shovel held close to her body.

"One of us has to lose." Rose warned.

Jack nodded, "True." He pursed his lips. "Only one of us can have the title of 'feed stick' champion."

They both got back into stance and Rose narrowed her eyes, "And _that_ would be totally worth all the bodily harm we could do to each other." She replied with a completely straight face.

"With our shovels." Jack added. Their eyes met and they both held onto their amusement as long as possible, refusing to look away. A giggle escaped Rose and she bit her lip to hold back any more that might follow.

She watched as Jack turned a little red, he looked like he was holding his breath. "Honey, it's not a competition. You can laugh." She encouraged.

"No, I'm right." Jack choked out. Rose rolled her eyes and struck out at his legs; he tried to elude it and tripped, falling towards her. Rose shrieked and tried to get away but found the wall right behind her, Jack's weight pulled her down and they ended up in a tangle of arms and legs on the cold concrete floor.

"Oof" Rose groaned "Jackie you are _heavy_." Jack pulled his head up from resting on her arm and shifted so not to crush her with his weight, he propped his arms on either side of her head and looked down at her.

"Sorry, but we can't all be 150 pound blondes."

"What does being blonde have to do with anything?" Rose asked taking in a nice lungful of air. "Ooh, the floor is cold." She complained.

"And you're nice and warm." Jack replied with a smirk. "I'm actually quite comfortable." He raised his eyebrows at her, his eyes dancing "I could do this all day."

Rose laughed, "The Doctor would come find me eventually."

"Oh I don't doubt that, sweetheart." He chuckled.

Rose narrowed her eyes, "Well if you're not gonna let me up, will you at least agree that I won?"

Jack scoffed, "Hey, who's on top?"

Rose frowned, "Oh _please_, I knocked _you_ down. I win. You're delusional."

"So, _this_ is what winning looks like?" Jack asked in mock seriousness.

Rose freed an arm from underneath him and brushed back some stray hairs from her ponytail, "How clever of you to let me trip you over."

"Wasn't it just."

Rose giggled, "Getting crushed for the second time today was kind of worth it to see your arms pin wheeling. Your face!"

"If I didn't know better I'd say something was going on between you two." Said the Doctor dryly from the other end of the corridor. Jack cleared his throat and scrambled off Rose, easily pulling her to her feet with him.

* * *

I'm always up for a little Jack/Rose flirting, it's harmless fun and I think it shows how comfortable they are together. So of course the Doctor has to interrupt. That's just natural. I went a little hijinky (if such a word exists) in the next chapter. Poor Doctor.

Oh and 'sword' fighting, can you believe I wrote this before I got into Merlin (the show where if you don't have a sword your either female or Merlin)? I had no idea how to write such a scene and still don't...but it was just a bit of fun with all the lead up and everything. I actually can't remember WHAT weevils look like...it's been so long time since I watched my one _and only_ Torchwood episode.

Saw the end of ten and was disappointed plot wise about the 'End of Time' P1 & P2 it was like crazy crazy fanfic. Still cried tho. DT can work with anything. _And Rose_...she deserved more then 2 minutes at the end.


	19. Chapter 19

I'm REALLY sorry. I am. I shouldn't have left this hanging for 2mths (my bad) . . . um, but on the _upside_ this will seem like a nice random surprise because it's been FOREVER.

And hopefully, you'll find this next part funny.

I don't own Doctor who or the ability to post this fic in a consistent and timely manner.

AND OMG, How AMAZING was _Eleventh Hour_? S5 has reinvigorated my love of DW. Amy's the first Companion I've liked immediately since Rose.

* * *

**Last time on DW: ** (I'm sure it's difficult to remember)

_"If I didn't know better I'd say something was going on between you two." Said the Doctor dryly from the other end of the corridor. Jack cleared his throat and scrambled off Rose, easily pulling her to her feet with him._

* * *

"Just the usual battle of wills." Rose smiled, reaching down to pluck one of the 'feed sticks' off the ground. She straightened up and began pulling Jack down the corridor back towards the Doctor and the hungry weevil. "You sir, are just in time to feed the weevil." She announced.

"Aren't I the lucky one?" The Doctor smirked.

"So, where's the food, then?" Rose asked looking up and down the corridor. "Jack?"

Jack sighed, "Back that way." He said pointing back the way they'd come.

Rose sniffed and gave him a shove, "Well, go on then _'feed stick champion'_." Jack shook his head and walked off to get the food.

"Got him trained well." The Doctor grinned. He looked her up and down, "And don't think I didn't notice what you're wearing. What is this dress-ups?"

"If only _you_ were so co-operative." Rose replied, ignoring his question.

"No one can tie _me_ down." He claimed proudly.

Rose scrunched her nose up, "Is that right? Well…I know plenty have tried, but none of them were me. Plus I have a lot of free time on my hands; you can be my _little project_." She reached up and wiggled his nose. " I know there's a polite person in there somewhere."

"Deep, deep, _deep_ down. Hiding in a cupboard, wrapped in a blanket with his hands over his ears and his mouth gagged." Jack added as he walked up. He took the 'feed stick' from Rose, "So who wants first go?"

* * *

[5 minutes later]

"It's in my hair! It's in my hair! _It's in my hair!_"

"Sweetheart, hold still and I'll be able to get it out. Uh oh."

"Uh oh? Uh oh? _Rose, What is_ 'uh oh'?!"

"Jack...what kind of food is this?"

"Rose! What is happening to my hair?!"

"Green, it's turning _green_."

"Jack!"

"Honey, he'd just find out by looking in a mirror."

"Well, how are we gonna stop him panicking now, huh? Doctor, please don't rub it you're making it spread."

"Green Rose! My hair's tuning green!"

"I know, I know. Jack have you got a sink around here?"

"Yep, through here. Oh, watch that bucket."

"Ugah!"

"Here, here. Jack turn on the water."

[silence and muffled sounds]

"Rose, I can hear you giggling. Stop it. It's _not_ funny."

* * *

"Do I want to ask about the towel?" Martha asked as Rose, Jack and the Doctor walked back into the main room. The Doctor had a blue towel wrapped tightly around his head; he sniffed and strode off leaving the other two to explain.

Rose and Jack exchanged an amused look, waiting until he was out of earshot before speaking. "We had a little weevil trouble." Jack chuckled.

"There was a chemical reaction between the Doctor's hair gel and the weevil's food pellets." Rose explained. She ran her tongue over her teeth, "A very interesting reaction that the Doctor's not ready for the world to see."

"Ever." Jack quipped. Martha frowned, her mind racing with possibilities.

Rose walked over to the computer hub, casting a mischievous look back at Jack. "We were sworn to secrecy…but you'd have video surveillance down there wouldn't you? Then we could go one better then vaguely describing the situation."

Jack perked up, striding quickly over to her with Martha close behind. "Rose Tyler, you are _full_ of good ideas today." He praised.

"The Doctor thinks you bring out the worst in me, actually." Rose smirked.

Jack pulled the keyboard over to himself and brought up the surveillance cameras for the lower levels, he rewound back fifteen minutes and gave Rose a big grin. "Gotcha!"

Rose put a hand on his arm to delay him a moment, she looked at Martha. "Prepare yourself, this is good. But you must _never_ speak of it in front of him; I have to live with that man and he _will_ be unbearable if he feels ridiculed." Rose instructed sternly. Then she grinned slowly, "But _enjoy_. He will find some way to wipe these tapes when he's thinking clearly again so this _is_ your only chance."

"I completely understand. My lips are sealed." Martha promised, with a sympathetic nod. Rose gave a happy sigh and removed her hand from Jack's arm.

"Here we go." Jack warned pushing 'play'. Rose and Jack watched themselves, beginning back at the point where they'd still been in mock swordplay before noticing the Doctor watching them. Martha gave the two beside her a dubious look out of the corner of her eye, Rose and Jack ignored her and got engrossed in the screen before them.

* * *

The Doctor stood behind Rose rubbing her arms vigorously in the chilly air, personally Rose felt it was a little _too_ vigorously. They stood outside the Tardis waiting for Jack. The Doctor had insisted she remove Jack's shirt and had replaced it with his brown pinstriped jacket- his reasoning being that it was warmer. Jack had needed to say a few more goodbyes and with the Doctor itching to leave Rose had suggested they wait back at the Tardis. It had been a good plan in theory, except now all his nervous energy was focused on her and her alone.

"Okay, look a _little more_ friction and this jacket will burst into flames." She finally said reluctantly.

The Doctor stopped and looked down at her over her shoulder, "Oh, is that right? We've been studying up on our physics have we?"

"Yes, _we_ have. _We_ had to keep busy."

"Quite right-" Rose spun swiftly and punched him in the arm and the Doctor stopped in surprise.

"I swear to god, you ever say that to me again I'll…" Rose growled in frustration. "_I'll make you eat your bloody screwdriver_!" she snapped furiously.

The Doctor raised his hands in surrender at her glare and looked quite taken aback at her outburst. "Right…then." He swallowed hard. His eyes widened, "What I mean of course is that t-that's completely rational. And I suppose if there's anything that you say I could bring that up-" Rose gave him an unimpressed look. "At a later time." The Doctor finished awkwardly.

Rose closed her eyes and sighed, "I know it's not rational, okay? I know. But you really gave me a scare back then, I thought that was it…it wasn't fair. And I'm supposed to what? Live a '_fantastic_ life'? How do I do that without you? How?" Her brown eyes flew open and regarding him honestly, "How?" she repeated tearfully.

The Doctor took a gentle hold of the collar of his jacket, keeping her close and rubbing his thumbs absently across the fabric. He stared down at her, his mouth quirking up a little. "_Rose_, everything you do is fantastic." He replied sincerely and pulled her into his arms.

Rose sniffled into his shirt, "Everything?" she asked quietly after a moment.

The Doctor smiled fondly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "_Absolutely_ everything." He assured.

Rose pulled back a small fistful of his shirt still held tightly by one hand; she raised an eyebrow "I am _so_ bringing this up next time you yell at me."

"_Rose Tyler_, I never." He protested.

She gaped at him, "Liar liar pants on fire."

"That happened _one_ time." He said holding up a finger.

Rose giggled, "Making it all the more memorable."

The Doctor reached down to cup her chin, rubbing a thumb over her lips tenderly "I like it better when you smile. _Rose Tyler_, you are my one in six billion." He added looking down at her like she was only one in the world, everything in the past forgotten for a moment.

The moment was shattered when Rose pinched his side, "You _fraud_!" she cried. Laughing Rose looked away for a moment, "I cannot believe you stole that." She covered her eyes, "Or that you would think I _wouldn't_ pick up on it."

The Doctor looked down at her squarely, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rose studied him and mirrored the crossed arms, "Oh really? _You don't_ remember our 150-hour x-files marathon?" she asked dryly.

The Doctor sighed, "_Rose_, I fell asleep, remember? You drew on my face."

Rose made a face at him. "It's not my fault you didn't notice for ages."

"It was hardly appropriate for you to wait for the locals to point it out."

"S'alright, they thought it was war paint." Rose said dismissively. "Anyway back to your little declaration, you can't possibly expect me to believe you didn't get that from the show?"

"Apparently I do."

They stared each other down and finally Rose cracked a smile. "Fine." She consented. Then pointed her finger at him, "But _only_ because that was really very sweet – whether you _intentionally_ copied or not." She clarified.

The Doctor smirked, "That's very big of you." He looked expectantly at her, "Well?" he asked finally.

"What?"

"Aren't you gonna say something nice about me?" The Doctor asked pouting a little.

Rose nodded slowly, and considered her words carefully. "You're _right_, Doctor." Then she smiled, "You always keep me guessing."

They were both silent for a moment then he raised his eyebrows, "That's _it_?" he asked disbelievingly.

Rose scratched her ear, "I'm sorry, you were expecting what?" she asked curiously.

The Doctor scrutinized her, "Well, _I don't know Rose_. Something more then telling me I'm unpredictable – I get that enough from strangers."

Rose grinned, picked up his hand, turned it over and pressed a kiss to his palm. "There, all better yet?"

The Doctor's eyes locked onto hers, he frowned slightly. "No, not yet."

She grinned and brought his wrist to her mouth, pressing another kiss there. She looked at him enquiringly.

"Nope." The Doctor answered her silent question. So she stepped a little closer, bent his arm and kissed his elbow.

"Still not there." The Doctor said shaking his head. Rose leant in and bent forward to kiss his shirt covered shoulder.

The Doctor drew in a breath, "Nope". She reached up and cupped the back of his head bringing him closer and pressed a gentle kiss to his neck. The Doctor shuddered.

"What about now?" she asked softly, still close enough that her warm breath fluttered over his skin.

"N-Nope." He said softly.

She tipped his face bringing it closer to hers, close enough that they were breathing the same air, "Really?" she asked amused. "What's a girl got to do for a little forgiveness?"

The Doctor smirked, "Rose, I honestly don't know." She leant closer, both their eyes fluttering shut. Rose kissed him properly for the briefest of seconds before…a _beach ball_ hit the Doctor in the back of the head.

"_Four_!" called a familiar voice.

* * *

Well, I thought it was time for some fluffy Drose :D That alright with everyone? *looks around and sees no one* Ahh, you've all abandoned this, have you? Well, no matter it's almost done and I'm going to keep putting it up no matter what. The explanation for the beach ball gets a bit random and that X-files ref is in there because that's what I was engrossed with at the time.

Anyone still sticking to this fic like white on rice, despite my crappy posting skills?


	20. Chapter 20

_She tipped his face bringing it closer to hers, close enough that they were breathing the same air, "Really?" she asked amused. "What's a girl got to do for a little forgiveness?"_

_The Doctor smirked, "Rose, I honestly don't know." She leant closer, both their eyes fluttering shut. Rose kissed him properly for the briefest of seconds before…a beach ball hit the Doctor in the back of the head._

"_Four!" called a familiar voice._

They both stumbled, The Doctor holding Rose close to his body. Once they were steady Rose moved out of the Doctor's embrace and peered around him, what she saw didn't surprise her in the slightest. And that surprised her. Jack and Mickey ran towards them both wearing goggles, weighed down with backpacks and holding golf clubs.

She tried not to smile. She tried very, very hard. And lost. The Doctor on the other hand, was not impressed. Rose moved between the boys and the Doctor, while he stared disdainfully at the beach ball lying near by. "So you're packed? I thought we were still going to stop by your place?" Rose asked looking at Jack as he pushed his goggles up.

"We are, I just had to grab a couple of gadgets we cannot possibly travel the universe properly without." He paused a moment for a breath "Actually, most of this is Mickey's-"

"_Oh_, no!" the Doctor shouted – suddenly paying a lot more attention to them all – "I agreed to _one_. _One guest_, _not_ two, _not_ three. _One_! Jack's bad enough. Now I have to put up with _Mickey_ as well?" he ranted, pacing and looking from Jack to Rose and back again.

"Doctor, now come on I'm sure Jack…" Rose said quickly and soothingly. She looked at Jack for clarification, in case they were getting the wrong end of the stick. "I'm sure Jack didn't mean that the way it sounded." She finished doubtfully.

"Well, why _can't_ Mickey come along?" Jack asked pointedly. Mickey during this wisely kept his mouth shut, keeping from looking directly at the Doctor in case looks _could kill_.

"Why? WHY?" The Doctor asked outraged. "Twenty seconds ago you almost killed us with a beach ball!" he started pacing in wider circles and muttering things under his breath. The only distinguishable thing being Rose's name as he gestured for her to sort it out.

Her eyes slid to the boys, "Guys, I'm not sure what reaction you were expecting."

Jack shrugged, "Pretty much exactly that, actually. We just figured you could talk him round."

Rose glared, "Because that's so _easy_?" she hissed, beginning to get a little annoyed herself. She shot a look at the Doctor behind her and moved closer to the boys; she pulled Mickey's goggles off. "Come on then. If I have to stick my neck out for you, you're gonna have to speak for yourself. The last time you travelled with us didn't exactly go so well…you abandoned us for a parallel world – certain never to see us again. Not that the universe seems to work that way – the impossible is very possible. Then _later_, you swan off and go join Jack's team –not that you said goodbye to _me_ or anything."

"Maybe, I didn't think that it would be the last time we saw each other." Mickey argued.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Sure. Whatever."

Mickey reached out and took her shoulders, looking at her earnestly "Rose, just think about it okay. Would it really be that bad if I tag along? It wouldn't be boring."

Rose glanced at Jack and he raised his eyebrows, she considered what Mickey had said for a moment. "Well, it certainly wouldn't be boring." She agreed reluctantly. Mickey nodded and she sighed, "Alright." She closed her eyes " But I make no promises on good behaviour. He's gonna need to some time to adjust to the situation." Jack leapt forward and wrapped her and Mickey in a bear hug, which they both laughed and tried to get out of.

"The old team back together again, plus one." Jack crowed.

Rose shushed him, "Okay, okay, _hurray_ and everything but keep it down, we have to approach the Doctor about this carefully."

"Why do you guys always insist on looking at me as the hanger on? The third wheel?" Mickey muttered.

"Maybe coz you're always hanging on." Rose retorted impatiently.

Jack held back a grin, interrupting before Mickey could reply. "Now, now kiddies, play nice. We need a united front if we're going to win this war."

The Doctor wandered back over to them, hesitantly. The three people before him schooled their faces, Jack keeping an arm around Mickey as he dropped the one around Rose. "I assume can we get going now?" The Doctor asked carefully.

Rose with a final look at the men beside her moved to stand in front of the Doctor, "You…_could_." She began slowly, giving him a bright smile.

The Doctor's eye twitched and he looked down at her distrustfully, "And you solved this _how_?"

"Would it be so terrible-"

"Yes." The Doctor answered shortly, he waved a hand at Mickey. "You didn't even _want_ Mickey to come with us the _first time_ – I had to convince _you_ that it was a good idea!" Rose shot him a disbelieving look and winced as she heard Mickey's sharp intake of breath behind her.

"Too far" Rose mouthed at the Doctor furiously.

"Oh. I thought we were having an _honest_ conversation – _silly me_."

Rose's eyes darken and she smiled humourlessly at him, her arm shot out to stop Jack interrupting when she sensed him move closer. She licked her lips, "Let's get this straight. Mickey and Jack are welcome to travel with us _anytime_ – _Family_ remember. The only family I have in reach, so you are going to like it or lump it. And here's the kicker" she said stepping even closer, almost as close as they'd been before. "_You are not going to say anything_. Do I make myself clear? You're gonna keep your feelings to yourself about this for a couple of days. It shouldn't really be much of a stretch for you should it? She finished softly.

The Doctor held her gaze, she didn't back down. "No, it shouldn't." he conceded.

Rose sighed and looked back at Jack and Mickey, "You guys should store your stuff now before we get going to Jack's to pick up the rest of it – although what more you could possibly need when you have a time machine I don't know." She said her mouth quirking up at one side as she tried to lighten the tension.

Jack shrugged out of his backpack, handing both it and his golf club to a surprised Mickey. "I've got a better idea. You two can store this in the Tardis, while Rose and I get a cab to mine and get the rest. It'll save time." He suggested. "And we'll be able to leave sooner."

Mickey looked at Rose and then didn't wait for any confirmation from the Doctor before shuffling off under the weight of his load towards the Tardis. The Doctor looked at Rose; "You're just going to leave me with _him_?" he pointed at Mickey.

"Yep, she is. I would have thought you'd be all for a plan to get outta here quicker, strange." Jack murmured thoughtfully. He moved behind Rose sliding his hands down her arms and then examined Rose's outfit. Jack smirked slowly, "_Hang on_ did we interrupt _something_?" he asked stroking the fabric of the Doctor's jacket.

The Doctor sighed at Jack's grinning face over the top of Rose's head, he rolled his eyes "No." he said sourly. "Rose was cold." He muttered by way of explanation and then strode off to kick the beach ball at a struggling Mickey. Both Jack and Rose winced as it made contact. "_Four_!" The Doctor called after a pause.


End file.
